Mercer C: Beulah, ND: 1983 Coteau Freedom Coal Mine and 3 B-E 2570

(Satellite, gem, has one of the componies three draglines)

(Satellite, has two of the companies three draglines)

The railroad is BNSF/NP.

 

James R Griffin Sr.: posted

William Oldani: First Trapezoidal Boom I believe.

Jack Pippenger: Know this machine well. I did the work to determine the best boom length, angle and bucket size to match the coal field.

Michael Knobloch: Jack Pippenger is it still operational?

Jack Pippenger: Michael Knobloch far as I know. They have 3 x 2570s there. This was the second one which began operation in 1984. The first was a spec machine started in 1982. The third arrived after I left North American Coal in 2000.

"The Freedom Mine delivers approximately 16 million tons of coal per year, making it the largest lignite mine in the United States in deliveries. The Freedom Mine uses three Bucyrus-Erie 2570 draglines for overburden removal and reclaims about 600 acres of land annually" [BasinElectric]

ND Public Service Commission via PrairePublic

NDstudies

Quinn Lickman posted five photos with the comment: "Marion loading a Cat 789 bottom dump. Photos by Michael Hubert."

Jeff Nielsen: James Joe Dewar Beulah North Dakota
Myron Dudenbostel: Nice work! I used to run a Marion 181 M with a 12 cu/yd bucket. What is the size of that bucket?
Don Kesterson: Myron Dudenbostel 27 cubic yard coal bucket.
Dorman Hardesty: Neat, never seen a 789 set up as a belly-dump.
Jeff Nielsen: I learned to be a shovel operator on that very shovel back in the early 80's. 191Marion 62ft.long sticks. Nice shovel to operate.

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James Joe Dewar commented on Quinn's post
Made by Mega Corp, biggest coal hauler ever produced carried 320 tons if memory serves, Bismarck Wy I think Coteau

I found just one dragline and...

Satellite

...and one large shovel.

Satellite

I found more equipment doing reclamation work than mining because they use normal sized equipment for reclamation. This view has a road grader at the top and a dump truck and bulldozer at the bottom.

Satellite

Later I found the other two draglines in a mine southeast of the one that gem documented. I included the old strip that is being covered as well as the new one that is being exposed.

Satellite

Satellite

And the southern most strip has a shovel removing coal.

Satellite

Here is what the mining operation looked like in 2003. The power and gasification plants are in the lower-left corner of this excerpt.

Global Earth, Dec 2003

A tub was replaced in 2018.

This view shows the rails that were coated with beeswax on which the tub was slid out.

4:19 video @ 0:38

The old tub is behind the house and the new one is in front.

4:19 video @ 0:59

2:45 video @ 0:31

3:16 video: most of their coal goes to nearby gasification and power plants. Some of the coal goes to a second power plant by rail.

1:55 video about their third dragline, Frontier. This 2570 came from Illinois. It cost $70m to move it, but that is about half the cost of a new one.

2:29 video of lifting the boom for a new dragline

How many mines are in Mercer Couinty?

safe_image for Shifting ground apparently caused dragline to tilt into pit in Mercer County

Facebook reel

💪A harness of six motorized #scrapers — three on each side — powers up to pull a massive slewing bearing from under the #dragline frame at the Freedom Coal Mine

🗻In the pit, two 120-cubic-yard draglines work side by side, showcasing the sheer scale of #mining operations.