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its hardest; the machine has a maximum push in of 136 tons and pull out of 276 tons. East Canton's highwall miner has the above plus another feature Cat consid- e r s o p t i o n a l e q u i p m e n t : a p u s h b e a m grapple, a tool to make push beam trans- portation and placement of one of the 49 b e a m s i n t h e s y s t e m m u c h m o r e s a f e and with much less headache. At the heart of all HW300s is their power, which can come from either highline power or diesel generator for more remote loca- tions. East Canton's diesel generator has a 1,500-kW output, keeping the miner running full steam ahead. According to Fairchild, the biggest chal- lenge with any highwall mining site is not the operation of the unit itself — it is, by far, the preparation process it takes to get to the point of bringing the mine into active status. Once the miner is assembled and in place and the crew is ready to go, Cat dealers will provide training and support through the life of the project. In some cases, he added, some miners have reported a complete return on their investment in a short period time — not something ever easily done with either tradi- tional surface or underground equipment. The Legacy of Cat's HWM Caterpillar has a long and storied reputation in the construction and mining world, but even with its relative youth, the Cat HW 300 highwall miner has had its own colorful path. The machine was first designed by the R.S.V. Co. of Holland, which nearly aban- doned it completely when the product had limited sales success. According to Cat, Paul van Es, a Dutchman with roots in the pile driving industry, was intrigued by the prod- uct and was confident he could give it a future, and thus took over the stock and trav- eled to America to see the machines in use. While stateside, van Es connected with Steve Antoline, who would become his busi- ness partner, and together the two founded Superior Highwall Miners Inc. in 1994. The pair, who headquartered their company in the heart of Appalachia's coalfields in Beckley, West Virginia, proceeded to disassemble the machine, rebuild it from the frame up using components they felt had proven track records and performance histories. SHM, enjoying the growth of the highwall sector, was sold in 2006 to Tennessee Valley Ventures/Lehman Bros. and the next year became a part of surface equipment giant Terex. Just three years later, Terex sold to Bucyrus, a portion of its business, which was in turn purchased by Cat in July 2011. Now labeled h i g h w a l l m i n i n g c o n t i n u e d 28 www.coalage.com December 2014 The HWM operator can see every aspect of the machine's activity — and the movements of the crew — in real time from his position.