Tremendous strides have been made in front end loaders in the last years as a consequence of the development of large gold mining operations. Twenty years ago a 3 cu yd front end loader was considered the largest standard machine in many gold operations. Today there are available 25 cu yd front end loaders. The trend in gold loaders, in general, and the mining market, in particular, is to larger and larger loaders. Today there are many prototypes, which will be developed in next years. It is not inconceivable that within fifteen years there will be front loaders in the 50 cu yd category with design features quite different from today’s. These larger loaders are being designed at the demand of the gold mining industry and the design criteria are being directed at this market area. The costs of these loaders may be greater per unit of capacity, but it is the intent of the various manufacturers that they will be more reliable, be easier to service, give greater availability, live longer and cost less to maintain than previous loaders.
It is also the intent of the manufacturers to compete directly with the large mining shovel as the front end loaders become appropriately larger and more reliable. There have been more trends in this direction in the past with smaller shovels and loaders. Many people believe that the decline in shovel production, in particular is due at least in part to the acceptance of the front end loaders as a primary production tool. However, the foregoing comparison is for a smaller shovel class than front end loaders. It has been generally a rule of thumb that a front end loader is competitive on a cost and production basis with a shovel when it is approximately twice as large as the shovel. This same relationship may not hold true with the larger 10 to 15 cu yd electric shovels, but at the same point, direct competition occurs.
Front End Loader