My "office"

[Rogue]

Hey guys,

Some of you know I finally got my dream job last Nov. Here's what I call my office for 48 hrs/wk. To give you some perspective... when i took this pic, there was actually 3 men standing behind the cab doing diagnostics on the electrical panels. Can't even see them , can ya?


And here's a link to some pics from work. I'm pretty fortunate to be able to earn a living (and a **** good one) at what some only get to sit at home and watch on TV.
I've been running Hvy Equip. for years, and thought i'd been around some big stuff before, but when i got out here, and started this job, that all went out the window !!

There is NOTHING more cool than operating a $4 million dollar truck that gross weights at over 500 ton !!
http://picasaweb.google.com/english.ra/WyomingCoal#

[Rogue]

Here's a vid for you also

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R0cJlLDslY

Can you tell I Love my job?

[A32Limited]

Those are some pretty cool pictures. The cockpits of those are much more high tech then I thought they were.

[ddc333]

Hi Rick

Do you guys only have electric drive trucks ?? and are they only the dc style ??

Also is that Rio Tinto I saw that owns the mine ??

I also work in an open cut pit in the Hunter Valley (Australia supplying the world's biggest coal export terminal) with the the 830E trucks. The seams in the pit where I am are fairly small compared to the ones you showed.

How big is the mine what other equipment do they run there ?

Just curious to learn more from over the other side


Thanks

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by ddc333

Hi Rick

Do you guys only have electric drive trucks ?? and are they only the dc style ??

Also is that Rio Tinto I saw that owns the mine ??

I also work in an open cut pit in the Hunter Valley (Australia supplying the world's biggest coal export terminal) with the the 830E trucks. The seams in the pit where I am are fairly small compared to the ones you showed.

How big is the mine what other equipment do they run there ?

Just curious to learn more from over the other side


Thanks

ddc333,

We run strictly Komatsus for haul trucks. 33 of them are 830e's, and 5 of the 930ae's. Just found out last week that we have 8 more 930's coming in, and will be in service before then end of the year. They will be replacements for some of our older 830's. The 830's are DC drive, and the 930's are AC. The AC delivers power SOO much more predictably and smoother. The Dynamic braking on the 930's is incredible also.

Rio Tinto owned the mine until last November. We are now owned by this Co.
http://www.cloudpeakenergy.com/operations/antelope-mine

I'm not sure on the size of the mine itself, but we are considered a mid-sized operation compared to some here. We shipped right at 36 million tons last year.

Some of the other equipment we run:

We have one P&H 4100 XPC, and 2 XPB's. Also have 3 P&H 2300's. Three CAT 24H blades take care of the roads, along with a couple more 16H's. Our dozers are all D10& D11R's, and we have close to dozen of those. We only have one dragline, and it's a Marion 8200. The watertrucks are all CAT 789-793's.

Everything has Sirius satellite radio in it.

Probably the most impressive thing on our site is the fact that we just surpassed 5 MILLION man hours w/o a lost time incident !!


What kind of shifts do you guys run? We are on a 4x4 schedule. 12 hr shifts, 4 on, 4 off. 2 sets of days, then 2 sets of nights. And I love it !

Keep in touch. Nice to know someone else out there has an understanding of what this industry is like.

[Stuff]

I have been thinking of a career in this. there is 2 mines around me and 2 power plants. it would be coal hauling though.

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by Stuff

I have been thinking of a career in this. there is 2 mines around me and 2 power plants. it would be coal hauling though.

I haul both dirt and coal, but prefer dirt runs. And obviously, there's ALOT more of it to move than coal. Dirt is faster paced, and makes the shift go by faster. I can easily get 80 loads per shift on dirt. Hauling coal on the other hand, some of our runs can be up to 45 minutes for a round trip. And that makes for one slooow shift, especially when your working nights.

[cummingsman29]

Now that is a truck!!!

[dirtpusher9]

Welcome Rick, and nice office. I thought about working in the mines around here but thought it would be the same-ol same-ol, day in day out. No offense.

[RCLogger]

Thanks for the informations and the video. Great to see the truck from the inside..

greg

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by dirtpusher9

Welcome Rick, and nice office. I thought about working in the mines around here but thought it would be the same-ol same-ol, day in day out. No offense.

I hear ya, and no offense taken. Some can't handle the monotony of this job. But they pay me dam good money to do it, along with insurance, benefits, 401, quarterly bonuses, etc.

And in todays job market and economy (or LACK of one), the same ol, same ol is pretty easy to get used to.

I was with my last Co. for 10 years when we went through a ownership change. We got the typical story "Relax, you have nothing to worry about. Everything will be business as usual". 3 months later I was handed my severance check ! A bunch of us found out quick the meaning of the phrase "Just because you're important, doesn't mean you're necessary". That was 2 years ago. I struggled for 14 months trying to find work in an area that was home for 44 years (Portland,OR), before i landed this job out here. A stark contrast to what i'm used to, but when it comes to putting fuel in my truck and my own belly, you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

But for me the biggest satisfaction of this job is knowing that alot of people are jealous of it, and wished they could be doing it too.

[ihbuilder]

I hear ya on the econ. Rick . I've been fighting for 2yrs going on 3 . any openings there I'd love to get on an D11 I finally got to see 1 in person . the biggest piece I've been on was a TD 25 dozer and 963 loader .

[Thorsteenster]

One helluva view from your office! All I get is 3 dividers lol.

Originally Posted by dirtpusher9

Welcome Rick, and nice office. I thought about working in the mines around here but thought it would be the same-ol same-ol, day in day out. No offense.

Work any job long enough and it becomes the same-ol same-ol DIDO routine.

[Stuff]

ya that would make the shift go by fast! problem here is they have to truck that coal about 10km to the plants from the pits.

[ddc333]

Hi Rick

We have around 70 trucks now increasing weekly at the moment all 830e's about 20 are the ac drive and yeah they are so much better to drive but far more temperamental and sensitive with the electric drive then the old dc trucks.

They have 5 shovels 2 4100, two a size smaller and one a size bigger. They have 2 drag-lines don't ask what size as I really don't see them. They also have 3 Hitachi 5500's excavators one currently under construction none older then 12 months plus more on the way. Also a Hitachi 3600 all these are for the overburden removal.

For coal there is 3 LeTourne 1850 loaders plus 1 1250 I think to help out and with the chitta

I think in excess of 20 dozers all D11 most R's and T's still a few N's left. They probably have 7 or so 475 Komatsu's left but no one likes them fairly rough to operate.
There is also 2 24 size graders ones a H the other an M I think. Also another 6 16h's. Water carts are all 777's 8 of them I think they have some 785's coming.

We also run 9 rotary drills a few more of them coming as well. That is what I currently operate nice and steady no angry shovel operators dropping loads from a great height.

I read the other day that they have just spent 105 million in the last year on new equipment well a bit longer as the diggers take 2 years to come off the production line.

They mine stretches about 29km from one side to the other ( apparently one of the biggest open cut operations in the southern hemisphere up the road a few km's is the biggest) and they basically run 3 satellite pits within the mine.
We have the one main washery and depending on your location easily an hour round trip when your on the coal. But some of the pits also have 30 to 45 minute round trips on the dirt so its much of a muchness I guess. My personal preference was the coal never as much pressure as some of the shovels.

We work a 4 panel roster all 12 hr shifts and it is basically 7 days out of every 14. Work : Monday, Tuesday day work off till the Friday night working Saturday and Sunday nights as well , then off till the Wednesday Thursday, day work off all weekend till Monday night work Tuesday night as well off then till the Friday day work, working the weekend off then till the Wednesday Thursday night Friday and the weekend off and then back to the beginning.

They also run an 8 and 9 hour crib relief to keep the trucks running for the full 12 hrs and those rosters are divorce rosters.

I hear what your saying about employment as Australia hasn't suffered like every where else in the world in terms of economic down turn but it was only as a result of our resources sector exporting every thing they can to China coal, Iron ore and so forth

By the way I also worked for a Rinker company which was bought by Cemex and then whoever bought them, in a quarry as well.

What a lot of rambling if you want to know anything else just ask I'll do my best to answer

[pugs]

Dang nice office, they should have a ride along program.

[CorbettTrailers]

Thanks Rogue. I went to the link that had all the pictures. That brought back some memories. My brother worked in some coal mines in Kentucky until his Diabetes got out of control in 1998 and he had to move back home. He spent his last days working for an Oil Company until Juvenile Diabetes took him from us in 2005. He Would come home for the holidays and bring tons of pictures, and of course some of the best Moonshine I've ever tasted. I still have the canning jars that it he brought it home in.
Thanks again for sharing. The pictures of the Dragline I could stare at forever. Great picture taking too of them Expoding the earth. Definately Priceless!!

Thanks,
John

[roadranger]

Rick - one of the pics said something about "scale check" - does each of these haul trucks have scales built into them?

Also, you said you were running 80 loads of dirt a shift - how many shovel buckets to load a haul truck?

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by roadranger

Rick - one of the pics said something about "scale check" - does each of these haul trucks have scales built into them?

Also, you said you were running 80 loads of dirt a shift - how many shovel buckets to load a haul truck?

Jim- Yes, every truck has onboard scales through the OEM Komatsu dash mounted display. You can scroll through Payload, the pressure exerted on each individual strut,total loads per shift, inclinometer, on and on.

This is inter - connected with our Modular Mining Solutions display which every piece of equipment is fitted with. This thing is scary cool ! It is under control of the main dispatch in Gillette (80 miles away !) It monitors truck gross weight, GPS locations, cycle times, etc. It actually acts as my "time clock" also. I log on and off from whatever truck i'm assigned to that day, and records hours worked accordingly. The govt. would be envious of this thing. This system does everything except tell me what I have in my lunchbox for the day

Aside from the seemingly obvious things, like downtime, it goes way beyond that and gives us every posible option for why we in any given mode.

DOWN - includes equipment problems from elec. to tires, engine, blown hoses, taking a truck to the shop for a PM, or worse case scenario, a MAYDAY , which everything in the mine stops until the MAYDAY is cleared..... Incidently, we have our own fire truck and ambulance on site, with a minimum of 6 ALERT team members on any given shift

DELAY - anything from a bathroom break, to lunch, fueling, weather (which could be blowing dust, blowing snow, lightning, rain), cab cleaning, waiting for the shovel, blasting

Dispatch has the ability to TXT us on the screen, and us back to them. They can assign you to a different run, or area of the mine. In some cases, i get lippy with them in return, and argue their assignment, sometimes I thank them.

Everything you do in these trucks is monitored and recorded through this system. Overspeeds, excessive delays, travelling beyond 75' with the bed up, ignoring OEM alarms, overloads. When you log off at the end of shift, your shift report is compiled, and emailed to your shift Super. They review them the next day, and given enough bad reports, they will haul you in, and put you through a review.

It has been kind of tough for me to get used to working under such tight guidelines. I came from the old school where you (and I absolutely HATE this phrase ... "Got r Done"). But this mine just completed 5 MILLION man hours without a lost time accident, so I accept the fact that what they are doing is for everyone's best interest and safety.

To answer your second question, the big shovels are typically good for 110- 155 ton per bucket, depending on material. That's 2 passes for a smaller 240 ton truck, and 3 buckets for the 340 ton trucks. A good shovel operator can make a full pass in 30 seconds. So typically 60 seconds for a small truck, and 90 seconds for a big truck.

OK, my thumbs hurt from typing now........

[Lil Giants]

Was there any classroom time before stepping into the haul trk?

How's it your fault if you're overloaded and how do you rectify the problem?

What's a 'lost time accident'? Truck crashes into another piece or roll over?

Have you had a wet load yet and pulled a wheelie to jerk the load off?
...that just sounds like really filthy talk, eh? butcha know what I mean?

All great stuff to read about, thanx for sharing Rick and Daniel, keep the chatter going... someday I'll make it up to Fort McMurray, Alberta to check out the BIG TOYS in the Tar Sands ...maybe even work there someday too.