10/26 – 10/28 – Measuring the 5230

Our introduction to Minnesota was a round of applause for the American Airlines pilot who finessed our plane onto the Minneapolis runway in 30 mph cross winds.  Four and a half hours later, after battling those same crosswinds, snow, sleet and rain, we went to bed early for our trip to the Arcelor Mittal mine on Wednesday morning.

Rob, Greg & Jim in front of the 5230

After a quick breakfast we met our contacts from the mine and Caterpillar and made the short trip to the mine site.  Another 8 miles of driving within the mine took us to where the 5230 was located.  Our arrival time was set up to fall within the weekly, 8-hour down-time maintenance shift.    It took us about two hours to get all of the dimensions we needed to start developing our computer model, after which we tracked down the one 992C still working at this mine for a few more reference photos and dimensions.

A look around the mine was followed by a tour of the processing plant where the raw rock is transformed into iron pellets that are shipped by train and boat to another Arcelor Mittal factory to become steel.


Our hosts from the mine and Ziegler Caterpillar were both extraordinary in their assistance in getting us to the machines.  We’re all very excited about making the 5230 model and looking forward to the  possibility of a larger shovel down the road when CAT rolls out their new product lines!

The 992C we found

Talking shop by the 5230

A BE drill used for prepping the rock for blasting

The rental company might not appreciate
 the mud we covered their Tahoe in!

That service truck in the middle dwarfed our Tahoe

The repair shop

Old school "dry" - where the miners keep their gear

Rob all geared up with his safety vest, hard hat,
metatarsal boots and gloves as required by the mine.
Standing in front of one of the pieces of equipment
used for processing ore.