Wirtgen - Surface Miners for the Mining of Rock

In 1980, Wirtgen built the first surface miner for the mining of minerals in open-cast deposits. Today, Wirtgen is the market leader in this segment, offering a technically mature product portfolio for opencast mining which has been tried and tested in operations around the globe.

Surface miners from Wirtgen provide cutting widths ranging from 2.20m to 4.20m and cutting depths of between 20cm and 83cm. We are the only manufacturer covering a scope of performance ranging from 100t to 3,000t per hour.

This measure of productivity is attributable to the miners' efficient cutting technology and a wealth of experience gained in three decades of applications technology.

Surface mining equipment

Wirtgen is the sole manufacturer to have continuously pressed ahead with the development of surface mining equipment for mining rock by cutting, setting innovative standards in this technology.

The biggest challenge consisted in introducing the surface mining technology as an alternative to conventional mining methods, such as drilling, blasting and crushing, and to demonstrate to its customers the methods, performance, economic efficiency and environmental friendliness in the most diverse applications.

Surface miner basic machines and cutting drums

With the 2200 SM, 2500 SM and the new 4200 SM, Wirtgen offers its customers three tried and tested performance classes, which can be equipped with a large variety of options and customised to specific project requirements. All models can be designed to load the material into dump trucks or depositing it as a windrow behind the machine.

Over two dozen drum designs with, for instance, different tool spacings are available for the machines as standard cutting drums, while additional special designs are developed and built to meet specific application requirements.

Surface miner for hard rock

The 2200 SM surface miner offers cutting widths ranging from 2.20m to 3.80m and is suitable for rock hardnesses up to an unconfined compressive strength of 50MPa.

The front loader is used for the mining of, for example, gypsum, soft limestone or coal. A special, 3.80m-wide cutting drum assembly is available for this surface miner model which impresses with high production rates.

Surface miner rear loader for mining medium-hard rock

The 2500 SM rear loader is used for the selective mining of medium-hard to hard rock with unconfined compressive strengths of up to 80MPa. It has a cutting width of 2.5m and cutting depth of up to 60cm. The machine can be supplied in a reinforced design to enable rock of up to 120MPa or higher to be mined in special earthwork and rock operations.

High-performance surface miner for soft and hard rock

The high-performance 4200 SM, the largest surface miner model, incorporates the findings and field experience gained with the 2500 SM and its predecessor model, the 3700 SM, on construction sites around the world.

The 4200 SM has a working width of 4.20m and is available in two different versions. The 4200 SM for soft rock is capable of cutting materials with unconfined compressive strengths of up to 50MPa, such as coal, at cutting depths of up to 83cm: here, an annual mining capacity of up to 12 million tonnes can be achieved.

The 4200 SM for hard rock is used as a high-end miner for the mining of medium-hard to hard rock with unconfined compressive strengths of up to 120MPa, and is capable of cutting at depths of up to 60cm. It is also suitable for use in rock operations or trench construction.