Elko Wire Rope has used Enerpac’s JS-500 Jack-up System to lift a 1,500-ton (1,350.8 tonne) electric rope shovel at a copper mine in the USA.
It was necessary to lift the machine for a 60-day inspection and maintenance project and the JS-500 was “a perfect match” for the job, said Mike Beres, sales director – Americas for heavy lifting technology at Enerpac.
He explained: “We have the product to do the lifting of the equipment and Elko has the capability for building the attachments to integrate to the equipment. They have extensive knowledge of tooling to adapt to the shovel.”
After compacting and levelling the ground for the assembly of the jack-up system, and removing some components from the shovel, the team positioned two jacks under the counterweight at the rear of the shovel, and two under the main boom section.
Elko also fabricated and welded lifting jigs to the front of the shovel.
Enerpac’s EVO synchronous lift system, meanwhile, was placed under the car body, which made slight adjustments to the alignment of the pin going through the center of the machine during the lift of the upper deck.
Corey Reynolds, commercial manager at Enerpac, said: “While the lift was being done the team monitored the level of the car body and upper revolving deck from inside the machine to confirm clearance around the pin and to make adjustments to the car body with the EVO system, all while they did the lift on the outside with the jack-up system. This was a unique feature for shovel undecking that hasn’t been done before.”
