Sandvik Mining recently commissioned a new high-load cutting test rig as part of its continued investment in research and technology for hard-rock mechanical cutting.
Sandvik said it has identified hard-rock continuous mining as a strategic initiative to align with its Customer Focus and Innovation values to develop safer, more productive and more cost efficient system solutions.
Accordingly, its competence center for mechanical cutting in Zeltweg, Austria has been investigating suitable cutting technologies and machine concepts—and during these studies a critical need for a full-scale test rig to validate hard-rock cutting became evident for future product development.
The engineering design, planning, construction and assembly of the test rig began in August 2013 and was completed at the end of 2014.
Various cutting tests have been initiated since the start of 2015 that are expected to contribute to the development of different cutting technologies for application in rapid mine development and production machine concepts.
