OREANDA-NEWS. On 25 July 2008 OMZ OJSC (Uralmash-Izhora Group) (RTS: OMZZ; LSE: OMZD; OTC: UHMVY) announced that IZ-KARTEX LLC, a leading producer of electric mining shovels in Russia and the CIS, a part of OMZ Group, newly-produced EKG-1500R crawler shovel for Kuzbassrazrezugol OJSC is being prepared for shipment and assembly.

The new 750-ton unit has a high-capacity 18 cubic meter bucket, the largest bucket produced by Izhorskiye Zavody, another OMZ Group company. The shovel's digging radius is 22 meters, and its digging height is 18 meters. The aggregate capacity of the machine's electric motors is 1,500 kilowatt. The shovel is intended for excavation and loading mineral products and overburden to transport facilities. The conceptual design of the EKG-1500R shovel involves a rigid double-leg handle, rack crowd mechanism, two-crawler mounting with separate drive for each crawler belt. The design features are aimed at reliability and failure-proof operation in the heaviest climatic conditions. The EKG-1500R shovel's cost is RUR220 million.

The EKG-1500R model is the first of a new model range developed by IZ-KARTEX. The company's development strategy calls for the production of shovels with 12, 30, 35 and 50 cubic meter buckets in 2008-2010. The 35 and 50 cubic meter shovels are the first of that scale to be produced for Russia's coal and mining industry.

Currently the company is working on development of the EKG-12К, EKG-18Р/20К and EKG-32R/35К shovels. The first model will be produced this year, with the rest planned for 2009. With a similar base, each can be equipped to customer specification (either rack crowd or cable crowd mechanisms can be installed). The high level of unification simplifies production and technical maintenance of the machines, IZ-KARTEX is the only producer of heavy-duty mechanical shovels in the world which can provide such services to its clients. The numbers in the names of models mean the size of the shovels' buckets. For instance, EKG-12K shovel can be equipped with 10-16 cubic meters bucket, EKG-18R can have 14-24 cubic meters bucket, and EKG-20K shovel can have 15-30 cubic meters bucket. Range of the bucket's capacity of EKG-32R and EKG-35K reach 20-45 and 20-50 cubic meters accordingly.

IZ-KARTEX focuses on optimal conformity of its shovels with industry standards for mining vehicles. The EKG shovels are designed for to be used with dump trucks and railway dump cars with 90, 130, 220 and 320 tons carrying capacity.

Development of the new product range will allow IZ-KARTEX to strengthen its leading position in the mining equipment market and to become a top- three maker of electric mining shovels in the world. The company's shovels now are used in all major mining facilities in Russia and the CIS countries as well as by a number of foreign mining companies.

The company will complete the shipping of the Kuzbassrazrezugol shovel components by late July. The excavator will be assembled and put into operation at the Taldinsky open cut coal mine by October 2008.