The Biggest Bulldozer in the World

This past weekend was once again spent in Westport;  intermittently rainy and quiet, we enjoyed sleeping in late.  We still took a day trip though, this time to the Stockton coal mine for a tour of open-pit mining.  I never thought I was interested in coal mines, but Stockton is the biggest employer in town, and we wanted to see where our patients spent their days.

The coal here is very high-grade, and 100% is exported, mostly to India, China, and Japan but 10% of it goes to the U.S.  None of it is burned for energy but is used to make steel, and the highest grade is used in manufacturing of items such as dialysis filters and space shuttle insulation tiles.  It was a great tour:  the guide used to work in the mine, so he knew many of the workers and drivers, and we got to see all the action.  Of course, we also got to wear hard hats (mandatory safety equipment).

After locating a coal seam, bulldozers, rip up the
hillside to get to the coal.   The coal is then dug out,
transported, graded, ground up, and transferred to even larger trucks.

These larger trucks haul the graded coal to large bins, where an automated system fills carts to be carried down the hill .  One ton of coal is loaded into each cart, three carts per minute, 24 hrs/ day.  The carts are transported via an automatic rope system, down the hill to the train station.  Five trains, with 30 cars each, move the coal to port every 24 hours.  It's a big operation.

After the coal is dug, full-time restoration crews smooth out the hillside, top it with crushed granite and soil, and replant vegetation.  We didn't get any photos of the restored hillsides, but they look pretty good.  The mine is serious about environmental concerns.

Of course, all this digging requires serious equipment, and for some of us, seeing the big trucks was a highlight.  Here I am standing next to the biggest bulldozer in the world (125 horsepower), and Eric is seen next to a "medium sized" truck.
Turns out, the mine likes to hire female drivers because studies have shown women save fuel, report equipment problems earlier and have less accidents.  Way to go girls!