OREANDA-NEWS. The L-2350, a giant loader weighing 262 metric tons, is currently the largest piece of conventional equipment on wheels in the world. Since 2007, Vale has acquired 11 vehicles which are fully active in our operations in the Serra dos CarajЁўs in Parauapebas (PA).

With the bucket elevated, the wheeled giant reaches 13.39 metres in height, which is the equivalent of a four-storey building. The vehicle, which is more than 20 metres in length and 7.58 metres wide, is capable of transporting 72 metric tons of load. The shovel loader, a lower capacity vehicle used in works in various cities in the country, carries three metric tons of load on average.

The main function of the L-2350 is loading sterile/iron ore into off-road trucks, including those with a 400 metric ton capacity that operate in the opencast mine at CarajЁўs. It is an extremely useful piece of equipment in Vale's operations owing to the load capacity and the ability of the cutting edge teeth to move.

The loading cycle of the L-2350 is 3,000 metric tons per hour. This means that each hour almost 7 trucks, each with a load of 400 metric tons, of iron ore are carried.