The third in Old Pond's 'Massive Earthmovers' series deals with just one mine - but what an exceptional mine it is. Boliden's Aitik copper mine, north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden, is a hole 3 kilometres long, 1 kilometre wide and 400m deep.
The extraction of 43 million tonnes of rock a year requires extreme machines, the only ones of their kinds to be found in Europe. Two immense electric shovels - P&H 4100A and a Bucyrus 495B11 - are accompanied by a Komatsu PC5500 electro-hydraulic excavator.
Large excavators require massive haulers. Trucks in the DVD unique to Europe at the time of filming are Caterpillar 793D and C series, as well as Lectra Haul MT4000 diesel-electrics.
The filming has been organised and scripted by Steven Vale, European Correspondent of Earthmovers magazine. He includes other earthmoving machinery from Aitik and shows the complete mining process including a truly memorable blasting. The story is completed with rock crushing, grinding and primary copper excavation.
The programme is narrated by David Holt.
DVD Info
Region: 2
Running Time: 76 minutes
Release Date: 24/10/08
