Heading Underground with J. H. Fletcher’s Ben Hardman

If you work in coal, especially at one of the country’s many underground coal mines, the name Ben Hardman is likely a familiar one. In this issue’s executive Q&A, we talk to the VP about his industry history, the outlook for automation and his views on the coal industry. Edited by Donna Schmidt NAM: How did you get your start…

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Is Remanufacturing Mining’s Best-Kept Secret?

Caterpillar, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Cat Reman Center in 2023, said that remanufacturing could be the ‘secret sauce’ that operations are seeking to keep total cost of ownership low and uptime high. As mines strive more and more for these goals, could this be a missing element of that journey?  By Donna Schmidt Remanufacturing is a…

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The beauty of partnerships

Take a poll of this industry and you’ll quickly find out that many of those in it love what they do. And in many cases, a significant portion of that is due to the industry itself and the people they work with. The mining community is a densely intertwined network of highly intelligent, motivated and hard-working individuals, and I’ve long…

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Cat’s far-reaching research, training hub: Tinaja Hills

North American Mining recently took an exclusive look at Caterpillar’s Tinaja Hills and Tucson Proving Ground complex in southern Arizona, gaining some remarkable insight into the OEM’s research and development and training efforts By Donna Schmidt Just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, overlooking a beautiful yet vast swath of one of the most beautiful desert areas of the American Southwest,…

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Reflecting on the year

Another year is coming to an end. It seemed to go quickly (just like everything feels like it does now after our collective experience that was 2020), but it was also very busy. It was not just an active year for commodity markets, for better and worse, it was also a surprisingly active year for mining industry events and was…

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Caterpillar to unveil new electric-drive LHD at MINExpo

MINExpo 2021 attendees will get a first look at Caterpillar’s latest sustainable mobile equipment solutions: the R1700 XE LHD and MEC500 Mobile Equipment Charger. The new Cat LHD (Load Caterpillar) has a 16.5-ton payload and features a battery electric design that delivers superior productivity in underground applications with the benefits of no engine heat or exhaust emissions. An Autodig function…

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Strata inks distribution deal with Biomarine

Strata Worldwide kicked off its time at MINExpo 2021 by confirming the growth of its partnership network, announcing it is now an official distributor of the Biomarine BioPak 240 closed-circuit self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Strata’s distributorship comprises mining, tunneling and general industry applications in most of the U.S. as well as Canada and select Central and South American countries. Biomarine…

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Loadscan introducing Mine Payload Scanner in Vegas

Loadscan, producers of the LVS Load Volume Scanner, has chosen MINExpo 2021 to unveil its newest product: the Mine Payload Scanner. The volume measurement scanner designated also as MPS, the new release is a “‘ground-up”’ redesign of the LVS; this unit is the result of close collaboration with numerous international mining customers, according to CEO Carey West. “Our customers have…

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Komatsu to demo excavator teleoperation at MINExpo

Attendees at MINExpo 2021 can witness a Komatsu excavator located more than 400 miles away in Arizona be operated from the Vegas show floor during a scheduled demonstration by the OEM this week. The company will teleoperate the new Komatsu PC7000-11 hydraulic excavator from a remote console as it loads the company’s autonomous concept truck at its proving grounds outside…

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