OREANDA-NEWS. May 04, 2016. The decision to start production of PD-2E LHD prototype at RMZ plants, developed by Sverdlovsk Institute NIPIGORMASH, was made by the company's management in 1990. Prior to that time, PIMCU had used pneumatically operated LHDs MPDN-1M and PT-4, produced in the GDR. “They were simple in design, but had several drawbacks, the main one being the high risk of injury to miners,” recalls stope miners foreman Kubanichbek Imanaliev.

RMZ succeeded in serial production of easy-to-operate and safe machines. Currently RMZ is the Russia’s only producer of such equipment. Today PD-2E is not inferior in performance to its foreign counterparts, but costs from six to seven times less.

“We’ve been using RMZ’s LHDs in our mines for dozens of years. I am glad that the technology is constantly being improved; another important factor is the minimum cost of repair, as units and components are produced in Russia,” said deputy chief of Section No.1 of Mine No.8 Andrei Tatarintsev.
 
The anniversary PD-2E, of course, is very different from the first prototype. For example, collaboration between engineers and miners allowed introducing a number of structural changes that improved its maneuverability. Looking forward, for the production of next machines RMZ’s experts are working on the installation of a more powerful engine to facilitate climbing on 12-degree slopes in drifts.
 
It should be noted that tests of the prototype of a new mining machine PD-1D developed by RMZ are currently ongoing. This small-sized diesel LHD, intended for mining thin ore bodies, is not inferior to similar technology from foreign manufacturers. Smaller dimensions of the machine can significantly reduce dilution and the cost of mining and processing cycle.