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And in terms of overcoming the hard sandstone, NCL now drills and blasts each bench before stripping, using around 7,300 mtpy of explosives — mainly site-mixed emulsion — to fragment the rock and reduce the potential for damage to the bucketwheels. Overburden blasting has led to a remarkable improvement in produc- tion, Mohan stated. Updating the Excavator Fleet According to Tenova Takraf, a total of some 32 BWEs have been supplied to NLC since operations began at Neyveli, with almost all of them having come from various German companies. Some have worked for an impressively long time, an example being a machine that NLC recently renovated at a cost of some $7 million. Originally supplied by Buckau Wolf and commissioned in 1983, the 700-liter machine had completed more than 124,000 hours in Mine II. Including a major update of its operating systems, the renovation work was designed to give the machine a further 15 years of life. Meanwhile, Tenova Takraf received its order for the two new 1,400-liter BWEs in July 2012. The erection site was officially inaugurated, including a traditional bless- ing, a year later, and Surender Mohan per- formed the handover ceremony on February 5. Standing 37 m tall, each machine weighs some 2,600 mt, and is equipped with 34-m- long (110 ft) bucketwheel and discharge booms. The wheel itself, 8.2 m (27 ft) in diameter, carries 14 buckets, giving a maxi- mum digging capacity of up to 6,800 m 3 ph. Using an 11,000-volt power supply, the machines are carried on six crawler units that give it a tramming speed of 8 m per minute. Two 750-kW motors power the bucket-wheel drive, while the hoist winch has 2×220-kW drive motors. The entire superstructure can rotate through 180° in either direction, Tenova Takraf said, while the machine has a maximum digging height capability of 30 m (98 ft). NLC's Future While NLC maintains it main operations at Neyveli, the company is looking to expand in other directions, in other parts of India and overseas. Following the opening of its Barsingar mine and 250-MW captive power plant in Rajasthan in 2009, it has plans for a further three mines in the state, adding 4.75 million mtpy in capacity. In Tamil Nadu, it is working on two hard coal-based power pro- jects, based on both local and imported coal. Elsewhere in India, it is looking at developing hard coal mines in the states of Odisha and Uttar Pradesh in joint venture with other organizations — projects that could also involve the construction of new thermal power plants — and it is investigating oppor- tunities for mining coal outside of India. In a national media interview earlier this year, Mohan noted that the Neyveli mines achieved their highest output on record in 2014-2015, at 26.5 million mt (29.2 million tons), with a target of 27 million mt for this financial year. However, he warned that actual output will be dependent on the power market in the five southern Indian states that the operation's power stations supply, with recent off-take cutbacks having led to nighttime output reductions. Whatever the outcome, India's highest- capacity surface mines will continue to pro- duce fuel for this part of the country, with the new machines from Tenova Takraf play- ing an important role in keeping the rock on the move. i n d i a n l i g n i t e c o n t i n u e d 48 www.coalage.com July 2015 ■ 6X more CM systems operating in U.S. coal mines than any other manufacturer ■ Precise location of workers maximizes safety and productivity ■ Dynamic SharpZone TM technology - maximizes mine productivity - minimizes nuisance / false alarms sales@matrixteam.com MineOwl Mobile Machinery Low-Light Camera System LED lights housed in rugged XP housing Hi-res LCD monitor in rugged XP housing Mining Technology