Massive Earthmoving Machines Part 4

DVD PAL

The large, specialised machines in this programme have one tasl: to move mountains. In the Fabero coal mine in northern Spain, you can see a 520-tonne Hitachi EX5500 hydraulic excavator making light work of overburden. This beast feeds 200-tonne capacity Cat 789C trucks in just three or four passes. Nearby, a Komatsu D475A dozer – the biggest in Europe – is ripping through rock. In footage from mines associated with Fabero you will see other immense hydraulic excavators at work: Komaatsu PC300 and Hitachi EX3600. Among the many supporting machines on view are Komatsu WA800 and WA600 wheeled loaders.

Further east, in the French Pyrenees, the Luzenac talc mine has a 340-tonne Liebherr R994B hydraulic excavator hard at work feeding komatsu HD985 and Cat 777C dump trucks. The wheeled loader recorded here is a Cat 992G.

Many of the machines in this DVD are among the largest to be found in Europe, and some ar rare. you will find that the sites themselves make for fascinating viewing, with a contrast between the thin coal seams of the Spanish mines and the glistening white abundance of talc at Luzenac. As in his other highly regardsed programmes, Steven Vale deals not only with the individual machines, but also with the total mining processes of which they are a part.

• PAL DVD
• Running time 90 mins.