by Kyle Molyneux | Fri 13 Aug 2021
New Cat 6040 Hydraulic Mining Shovel
Offering more drive options to meet the global mining industry’s needs, the new Cat 6040 Hydraulic Mining Shovel features an added engine configuration that meets US EPA Tier 4 Final and EU Stage 5 emission standards. The new configuration includes two fuel-efficient Cat C32 engines, offering a total gross power rating of 1,550kW (2,079hp). Optimising machine uptime and lowering operating costs, the engine package includes maintenance free Diesel Oxidation Catalysts (DOC) and does not require Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF)/AdBlue or Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF).
Connecting to Cat MineStar Solutions’ suite of integrated technology, new Product Link Elite comes standard on the 6040 shovel. Product Link Elite delivers enhanced communication through a dual data path, allowing data transfer to both the local server and cloud simultaneously. Caterpillar’s next generation of on board hardware, Product Link Elite features a configurable interface and customisable data-push frequency. Information transfer from the equipment can be configured via cellular, satellite or mine network connection to meet the mine site’s needs.
The new 6040 shovel is said to deliver increased uptime with its heavy-duty undercarriage. Improved load rollers and idlers now feature duo cone seals, steel-back bronze bearings and fixed axle technology to increase service life and eliminate overheating during travel. Meanwhile, Cat says the track pad, tensioning and wear updates deliver a higher level of durability and reliability to lower operating costs. Retrofit kits for the rollers are available for field units to improve existing fleet reliability.
Like previous series, the new 6040 shovel can be equipped with backhoe or Cat TriPower Face Shovel front end designs. To deal with harsh mining conditions, the front attachments feature high-strength steel and castings, joined and thermally stressed-relieved, to extend service life and achieve production targets. With its 39.6-tonne bucket payload, the 6040 shovel offers 4-pass match with Cat 785, 5-pass match with Cat 789 and 6-pass match with Cat 793 mining trucks.
For the first time, the new Cat 6040 Hydraulic Mining Shovel fully integrates the undercarriage, engine module, superstructure main frame, carbody and crawler frames, hydraulic lines and motors, and counterweight into Caterpillar systems to improve servicing efficiency and parts sourcing. The new shovel displays the Cat Modern Hex graphics and will drop the ‘FS’ suffix to model nomenclature for face shovel configurations.
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