Rich salt harvest in Mexico

1 Der mit einem 3,8 m breiten Schneidaggregat ausgerüstete 2200 SM legt das Salzgestein verladefertig als Schwade ab • The 2200 SM is equipped with a 3.8 m wide cutting drum unit and deposits the salt in a windrow, ready for loading

2 Mit rund 33 000 ha ist Exportadora de Sal das größte Salzfeld der Welt. Das Salzgestein hat eine einaxiale Druckfestigkeit von 10 MPa • Covering an area of 33 000 ha, Exportadora de Sal is the largest salt field in the world. The salt mined here has an unconfined compressive strength of 10 MPa

Exportadora del Sal S.A. (ESSA) operates huge sea water salt evaporation ponds not far from the city of Guerrero Negro in Western Mexico. The salt level “grows” by about 20 cm over the course of one year. The resulting salt crust needs to be harvested with great precision (Fig. 1) to allow for a maximum salt yield, create an even and clean surface and avoid damage to the newly forming salt crust.

The Wirtgen Surface Miner 2200 SM, which has been designed with a maximum cutting depth of 25 cm, a cutting width of 3.8 m and an engine output of 708 kW/963 PS, is perfectly tailored to meet this challenge (Fig. 2). The cutting drum is mounted close to the machine’s center of gravity to guarantee maximum cutting performance. It produces even, stable surfaces that are ideally suited to the use of trucks. The four track units can be adjusted in height separately via hydraulic cylinders to allow accurate setting of both cutting depth and cross slope.

The machine is utilized to optimum capacity when operating at an average cutting depth of 20 cm and working speed of 15-20 m/min. Since 2012, the 2200 SM has been setting new standards in ESSA’s salt mine. The fines content of the mining material precisely meets customer specifications – and the machine’s performance is quite impressive, too: the 2200 SM harvests an average 895 t/h of salt at diesel consumption rates of only 0.12 l/t respectively.

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