Formerly Longwall Mining Services, Limitless Mining Services Has Taken On Additional Mining Applications From The Pit To The Plant, Including Efficient Conveying Technology.

Edited by Donna Schmidt

Many may still remember LMS as Longwall Mining Services, a supplier of all things longwall with services to the many needs of longwall coal operations across the U.S. Now Limitless Mining Services (LMS), the rebranded and expanded company, is no longer a single segment supplier, making diverse partnerships over the last few years – one of the most successful to date being into the conveyor system sector.

LMS is now an official U.S. partner of Starclean, a business unit of Schulte Strathaus of Germany, for both the mining and tunneling industries. In business on an international scale since the early 2000s, Starclean today has diverse global alliances and has extended its line to spillage control products for bulk material handling.

“When LMS saw the Starclean products and saw the superior nature of the features and quality, [the] value was clear,” LMS President John Whitfield said of the collaboration that first grew roots in 2018. 

LMS and Starclean pointed out that the conveyor line has come a long way; a scraper system was the first product to be developed. It is the only scraper system in the world, the pair added, that has been developed from the perspective of a conveyor belt supplier.

“Therefore, not only good cleaning results, longer life spans and easy maintenance of all components are achieved, but also the belt is protected in an optimal manner,” Whitfield said.

The growth into spillage control solutions resulted in what is now a wide range, including scrapers, a belt tracking system, impact stations for belt protection and to guide materials, belt skirting systems to reduce dust generation and material spillage, the Safebelt Closed Belt Conveyor to protect transported bulk material, and inspection doors that permit easier inspection of belt scrapers.

“One of the ways to achieve efficient and sustainable bulk material conveying is through optimum conveyor belt cleaning,” Whitfield said. “The modular system, which makes it possible to find the right cleaning solution, is unique, giving the best solution in the individual application.”

The partners recently released a new web configurator for Starclean scrapers that can allow a customer to quickly determine the best solutions for their specific needs. 

The key to the tool is that no previous knowledge is needed to use it. However, if a user runs into difficulties, or is uncertain in the configuration results, the teams from both partner companies are always available to assist. The configurator is available on both companies’ websites. 

One example of an available solution from the line is the 860RS series scraper, which Whitfield called an optimal choice to save time-consuming scaffolding for scraper installation and maintenance. 

The Starclean RS is available as both a primary and secondary scraper. 

Along the way in their partnership, LMS and Starclean have earned themselves a number of customers in the mining and tunneling markets, which are now loyal to the Starclean line. 

“LMS and Starclean [now] look forward to a promising and digitalized future in which they will help many more customers in the mining industry in the U.S. to improve the efficiency and profitability of their conveyor systems,” Starclean said.