I heard that some mining companies are particularly fond of Liebherr's mining excavators, which are super large excavators with a capacity of 300 to 400 tons and a unit price of around 40 million yuan. They bought four in a row within four years. Liebherr in Germany is a powerhouse in the field of ultra large mining excavators, with sales far exceeding many other competitors in the mining industry with over 100 tons. Even Caterpillar, the world's engineering machinery leader, is not a competitor. The story begins in 2018:
In 2018, a Chinese company acquired a Serbian company for $1.39 billion (approximately RMB 9.53 billion at the time), acquiring a copper zinc mine project and a copper gold mine project.
In 2019, the company acquired the remaining equity for $400 million, thereby holding 100% of the equity in the above copper and gold ore resources.
At the end of 2019, just as the company's acquisition and resumption of work had come to an end, teams from Liebherr China, Liebherr Mining Equipment Co., Ltd., and Swiss Liebherr Export Company went to Bor, Serbia to introduce their solutions.
In July 2020, the company purchased the first equipment from Liebherr Mining - the 9400E.
Two months later, I purchased the second Liebherr 9400.
What kind of excavator is the Liebherr 400 ton R9400 mining excavator?
In 2012, the Liebherr 9400 made its debut at the American Construction Machinery Exhibition.
The excavator weighs about 350 tons, and the front shovel is about 10 tons heavier than the backhoe. The original fuel version was equipped with a 1250 kW Cummins engine, but the R9400E here is an electric drive version. Dou Rong 22-24 cubic meters.
According to the loading efficiency of three shovels per vehicle, the Liebherr 9400 is designed with a 130-150 ton mining truck.
Its sales are also good. It was launched in 2012 and by 2014, more than 30 units had already been sold.
The price is approximately 40000 to 50000 yuan per unit. This price is roughly estimated based on Liebherr R9100.89 million and R9250 over 20 million.
Of course, there may be some price differences for different configurations.
Not long after, the company purchased another Liebherr R 9350E at an unknown time.
9350 in the workplace
The 9350E is the electric version of the 9350. Of course, this level of excavator is not a pure battery, but a towed cable type.
By May 2024, the company had once again added a utilitarian Boeher diesel engine driven excavator R 9300 to its Serbian mine.
Liebherr 9300 excavator working in Indonesia
In 2023, Liebherr launched its 8th generation 9300 excavator, with a self weight of approximately 250 tons, as an upgraded version of the original 9250.
Starting from September 2022, Liebherr will conduct trial operations at the Tabang mine in Indonesia, mainly for clearing cover layers and loading 100 to 130 tons of mining trucks.
According to Liebherr, the R 9300 has an average monthly running time of 486 hours and an availability of 94%, exceeding Karunia's KPI for the machine.
An additional production study was conducted in March 2023. In this analysis, R 9300 achieved an average cycle time of 26 seconds, achieving an instantaneous production rate of 1371 cubic meters (BCM) per hour and a fuel efficiency ratio of 9.22 BCM per liter of fuel.
The market for super large mining excavators is large, with high profits. Many construction machinery giants are pursuing projects, and Chinese construction machinery giants certainly do not want to give up.
In December 2014, XCMG also launched the 400 ton mining super excavator XE4000. Dou has a capacity of 22 cubic meters, a 16 cylinder 60 liter engine, and 280 liters of oil per hour. Currently, multiple units have been sold, including foreign mines.
Of course, there are also electric drive versions, and the one sold to copper mines in South America is the electric drive version.
XCMG 400 ton excavator in Ecuador, South America
Currently, only XCMG has the supply capacity for mining hydraulic excavators with a capacity of 400 tons, while Sany and Zoomlion Heavy Industries with a capacity of 300 tons already have the supply capacity.