Bucyrus Africa has delivered the world’s first 35M continuous miner to Anglo Coal's Goedehoop Colliery in Witbank, South Africa.

The 35M machine is specially designed for the hard cutting and high coal seams of the South African Room and Pillar market, the second largest in the World. The 35M3 has been in production since mid-December 2008 and has performed exceptionally well, providing exceptional reliability with no breakdowns over the 1st full month of production. It is mining in the No. 4 Seam with a cutting height of unto 3.5m.

Bucyrus Africa launched the first Bucyrus continuous miner in South Africa, a 30M3 in February of 2007. Working in conjunction with the customer a number of upgrades were introduced and implemented on the machine in order to further improve the cutting performance in the hard South African coal.

Building upon this success, a project to develop a machine specifically for the South African market began in earnest in October of 2007. Together with some input from Australia and South Africa, the continuous miner design engineering team in Houston, Pennsylvania, USA did the impossible by not only designing, but also manufacturing the 35M in less than a year. It rolled out of the Houston facility in July of 2008.

The 88 tonne 35M design combines additional mass with longer cat tracks, different cutting geometry and lacing as well as improvements to the electrical control system. Operator acceptance to the machine has been great and the mine is eagerly anticipating the final commissioning phase in February 2009. Two more 35M machines are on order for delivery in June 2009.