AREA E- STRIPMINE DIORAMAS

(Mine 1) 1:50 scale model of Bell Ary mine outside of Gillette, Wyoming

This diorama models a typical “shovel and truck” mine operation. Due to the large amount of space needed to model this mine in 1:50 scale this diorama has been divided into two views.  To get the correct prospective, imagine that the right half of the diorama is on top of the left half.  This display represents overburden stripping and coal harvesting using large shovels and excavators to remove the overburden and the coal.  These materials are then loaded in very large off-road dump trucks with capacities from 320 to 400 tons to move it from the active mine area to either coal loading or reclamation areas.


Level one (1) is the “ground level” where top soil and vegetation is removed using a large scraper and moved to a storage area for later use in reclaiming the land.


Level two (2) is the subsoil and is also removed for future reclamation using large excavators or shovels.


Level three (3) is the top of the overburden (dirt and rocks on top of the coal seam).  This area in flattened and graded for use as a platform for the dragline and as “roads” for trucks going to and from the pit.  This area is called “the bench.”

Level four (4) represents the active overburden removal operation using a large dragline (see Shand mine display) or tracked shovel (P&H 4100 XPB). 


The dragline operator fills the 130 cubic yard bucket with overburden and dumps it on the “spoil” pile.  Typically this operation takes only 90 seconds. The overburden depth in this mine varies from 150 to 180 feet.


Level five (5) represents harvesting coal from the 50 to 80 foot deep coal seam.  A large capacity tracked shovel (P&H 4100XPB) with a 55 cubic yard bucket is filled with coal and dumped into the largest off-road (400 ton capcity) dump truck (Liebherr T282B) once every 90 seconds.


(Mine 2)  1:87 scale model of Shand mine outside of Estavan Saskatchawan Alberta

This diorama shows the five levels in a typical Western North American coal strip mine.