Friday, February 19, 2010

Massive Earthmoving Machines

Massive Earthmoving Machines: Part 3 - Aitik Copper Mine, Sweden

Massive Earthmoving Machinery

This third DVD, in the series, deals with just one mine - but what an exceptional mine it is! Boliden's Aitik copper mine, north of the Arctic Circle, in Sweden, is a massive hole measuring 1 kilometre wide, 3 kilometres long and 400 metres deep! Extracting 43 million tonnes of rock a year requires extreme machines - like a Bucyrus 495 and Komatsu 5500 working at the rock face, which are accompanied by a D105 Scraper, a Cat 994 Wheel Loader, a P&H 4100A and a Unit Rig MT4000. Explore the plant and discover the process of extracting copper from the ore-bearing rock.