LOAD & HAUL
Safe and vibration-free limestone mining in Japan is being enabled by the use of a smart surface miner
imestone has been mined from the Ube Isa quarry in Yamaguchi, Japan, since 1948. What makes this mine special, however, is that it is located in the immediate vicinity of a residential area. T is is why Ube Industries, the owner of the quarry, hired Okumura Engineering to mine the limestone in an environmentally friendly way that wouldn’t aff ect the surrounding area. To achieve this, Okumura made the decision to use Wirtgen’s 2500 SM and 2500 SM Vario surface miners.
MACHINES L
environmental eff ects such as vibration and noise for local residents limit the size of the work zone,” says Tomoyuki Shodai, general manager of Mining Department at Ube Industries. Due to the close proximity of the local
residents, it has been impossible for the company to expand the open-cast mine any further in the past. T e conventional blasting method is simply not an option here – it would cause too much vibration and the results would be too imprecise.
SURROUNDED BY RESIDENTS: LIMESTONE MINING IN UBE T e Ube Isa quarry is located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, about 10km from the world-famous Akiyoshidai Geopark. Over the years, conducting mining operations has become increasingly challenging for Ube Industries. T is is because the quarry is surrounded by a residential area, with the nearest homes only about 150m away. “T e densely populated area around the quarry is a challenge, because
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Using the remote control, the operator can easily operate the 2500 SM Vario from outside the machine, making the mining process much safer on steep slopes
MIGHTY
In addition, it would be impossible to guarantee the safety of the surrounding population from fl ying stones. As a result, the company was faced with the prospect of never being able to fully exploit the open-cast deposit, which would mean a total loss of several million tons of limestone for Ube Industries.
MAXIMUM MINE EXPLOITATION But the solution to the problem was fairly obvious. Wirtgen surface miners can be used to extract minerals without the use of explosives. By cutting the ground to mine the materials, they simplify the complex extraction and preparation process. Mining, crushing, and depositing the material in windrows is all carried out in a single operation. In addition, the surface miners are
perfect for mining raw materials under diffi cult geological conditions and in tight spaces, as is the case with the Ube Isa quarry. T is is why Ube Industries decided to hire Okumura Engineering to mine the outer walls of the quarry in 2012. Okumura has successfully used surface miners from Wirtgen to carry out
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