CR and Jaws designed a bucket, lip and ground-engaging-tool combination for excavators at Maules Creek coal mine in New South Wales. (Photo: CR)
CR reported that a bucket co-developed with Jaws for 800 metric ton (mt) excavators at Whitehaven Coal’s Maules Creek coal mine in New South Wales delivered a 2.6% increase in bucket payload.
Several OEMs vied for the contract. CR and Jaws, an engineering and fabrication firm, were selected due to their willingness to work closely with the miner, CR said.
Using its payload management system, CR analyzed a preexisting bucket on an excavator at the mine. It then worked with Jaws to design a bucket, lip and ground-engaging-tool combination that would perform better.
CR used scale testing to simulate scaled-down, real-world scenarios, validating and testing designs in a way that’s time and cost-efficient. The results clearly identified the optimum bucket design and lip design, the supplier said. The lip adopted was the SR7046 Stingray by CR.
Beyond the increase in payload, the new bucket reduced fill energy by 14% per mt, which will reduce maintenance requirements downstream.
CR said the miner was “so pleased with the outcome that they have now fitted the new bucket and lip combination across the rest of their full EX8000 fleet.”
