The Kotinskaya mine in Kuzbass, the most important coal region in Russia, broke all existing Russian records with its Bucyrus equipment and is the first mine ever to achieve an annual output of 4,501,700 tonne (4,962,275 tons) of coal.
Owner of the mine is the “Siberian Coal Energy Company” (SUEK) the largest coal corporation in Russia which counts among the ten largest coal producers of the world.
The Kotinskaya mine is equipped with Bucyrus shield supports, automation technology and armoured face conveyors. Safety has been a key topic as Kotinskaya is classified as category 3 with respect to mine gas and coal dust explosion hazards and the seam is susceptible to rock bursts below a depth of 180 m (590 ft).
For this reason the mine decided to use Bucyrus shield support units 220/480 with a range of vertical adjustment between 2.2 to 4.8 m (7.2 to 15.7 ft) and a support resistance of 6493 kN (4,788k ft/lbs) at a pressure of 410 bar (5947 lbs/in2).
The center distance is 1.75 m (5.7 ft) and the shields are operated by means of the rugged support control system PM 4 which has been used successfully in more than 100 longwall operations around the world for the last ten years.
The AFC for the 250 m (820 ft) longwall face is a Bucyrus PF 4/1132. For the transport to the surface a belt conveyor was installed in the entry, a slope haulage belt conveyor with a length of 1,400m (4,593 ft).
Bucyrus
Guido Schawohl
guido.schawohl@de.bucyrus.com
www.bucyrus.com