A high technology hard rock cutting machine developed by a consortium of European organisations is finding a ready application in the European mining industry.
The ICUTROC system (just say it aloud to get the sense) is specifically designed for conditions where the high strength and abrasity of the rock or mineral precludes conventional roadheaders or tunnel boring machines.
In such cases, drill and blast has been the only economical and practical means of excavation, until this European funded co-operative project.
The project gathered together Sandvik Rock Tools, roadheader producer, Voest-Alpine, research institutes in France and Austria, a mining company, Portugal's Somincor and a German civil engineering company.
The aim was to realise the advantages of mechanical cutting with roadheaders in rock materials up to 200MPa compressive strength by developing new tools and new cutting technology.
The project has now developed into the AM 105 roadheader manufactured in Austria by Voest-Alpine using S grade cemented carbide tools from Sandvik Rock tools. Grades of tool are available for hard and abrasive rocks, ordinary tunnelling and coal, and hard but less abrasive conditions.
Laboratory testing is said to have shown a 150% increase in tool life over standard tools.
For the full story, see the July 2002 issue of Australian Mining magazine.