Two Russian longwall mines operated by the Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) recently surpassed the national monthly coal production record. The Kotinskaya Mine produced 1,050,452 tonnes of raw coal in August to set the all-time record, and Taldinskaya-Zapadnaya Mine No. 1 produced 1,020,109 tonnes of raw coal to exceed the national record of 1.007.000 tonnes that it set in 2013.
Both mines are located in the Kuzbass region, the source of much of Russia’s coal exports. In 2015 the Kotinskaya Mine had annual production of more than 4.5 million tonnes of steam coal, about 3.6 million tonnes of which were exported. The 2015 production of the Taldinskaya-Zapadnaya Mine No. 1 was over 2.5 million tonnes of coal.
Each of the two mines uses Cat® longwall equipment—Cat roof supports equipped with Cat PMC-R roof support control, a Cat AFCPF6 face conveyor with an installed power of 3 x 750 kW (1,000 hp), Cat CST45 gearboxes and a Cat BSLPF6 beam stage loader with integrated crusher.
Kotinskaya’s current longwall is equipped with two-leg Cat shields, each with a width of 1.75 meters (5.75 feet) and support capacity of 725 tonnes (800 tons). With an operating range of 2.2 to 4.8 meters (7.2 to 15.7 ft), the supports are used in a seam that is typically about 4 meters (13 ft) thick.
At Kotinskaya mine, the PMC-R roof support control system offers special operating modes to boost both productivity and safety. The system can reactivate some regions of the face and resume production even though the face has been put into a safe condition in response to detection of an electrical fault, sometimes caused by a broken cable between two PMC-R controls. Before reactivation, strictly defined conditions must be observed.
Cat PF6 face and entry conveyers are especially designed for high performance longwalls.
With its patented trough concept and durable pan design, the Cat AFCPF6 face conveyor is particularly suited for applications in longwalls with extended face length and for panels with coal reserves of 10 million tonnes and more.
The innovative design of the PF6 line pan allows the separation of wear parts and structural parts. Very hard, wear-resistant materials are used for wear parts, while the structural parts are made of high-strength steel. The PF6 is designed to allow deflections of ±6 degrees vertically and 0.8 to 1.2 degrees horizontally, thus allowing it to be easily aligned to suit local conditions.
SUEK is Russia’s largest coal company, as it reported operating 11 underground coal mines and 11 open pit coal mines in 2015. That year it supplied 97.8 million tonnes of coal, about 26 percent of Russian coal production. SUEK also is among the largest suppliers of coal in the international market—with sales of 46.9 million tonnes in 2015.
Further information:
Caterpillar Inc.
www.cat.com/mining
