EPS buys one of Europe's largest excavators – RB Kolubara gets new machine worth EUR 31 million

(Illustration) RB Kolubara has bought one of the biggest, most modern excavators in Europe. The investment in this 40 meter giant, weighing over 3,000 tons, is worth EUR 31 million. The new bucket-wheel excavator has a capacity of 6,600 cubic meters per hour.

– The excavator which we are deploying is one of the most modern excavators in Europe and one of the largest among those used on European mining sites. This is a great achievement of Krupa and Kolubara Metal experts – said Milorad Grcic, acting director of EPS.

The excavator will be performing the stripping on the new BTO system in Field C. The EUR 31 million investment is a part of Project A, worth EUR 80 million, financed by the EBRD.

Project A consists of four packages: procurement of a bucket-wheel excavator, stacker, track transport system and electricity supply. There's a special focus on eliminating the impact of dust and noise on the environment and the populace in the area.

A stacker worth EUR 14.38 million, produced by the experts at Austria's Sandvik, with a capacity of 8,800 m3/h, was transported to the mining site in early April and integrated in the new system of track transporters, along with an old SrS 1200 excavator. The track-transport system, made by Kopex, is worth around EUR 28 million. The system includes four 2,000 millimeter-wide track transporters, with a total length of around 5 kilometers.

The new excavator is a part of the Environmental Protection and Improvement project at the Kolubara coal mining site, the first “green” project by EPS. The value of the entire project is around EUR 181 million, and, in addition to the EBRD loan, it is financed by KfW, with aid by the German government and the participation of EPS.

The “green” project will improve the coal excavation technology and secure a consistent quality of lignite in RB Kolubara, whose usage will increase the efficiency of thermal power plants, all of which will reduce the environmental impact.

EPS Rudarski basen Kolubara Lazarevac

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Kolubara Metal d.o.o. Vreoci

Bundesregierung Deutschland

KfW Bankengruppe Frankfurt am Main

EBRD Evropska banka za obnovu i razvoj Beograd

KOPEX SA Poljska

Sandvik Austria

Kopex

EPS

bucket wheel excavator

BTO system

KfW bank

Government of Germany

coal excavation

Milorad Grcic