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France's first Liebherr R 980 with bottom dump shovel

Through its local distributor SOMTP Brittany, Liebherr delivered its first R 980 SME with bottom dump shovel in France in 2021. This is the largest member of the range developed and manufactured by Liebherr-France SAS in Colmar. Versatile and comfortable, this model has already won over Traineau, a long-standing Liebherr customerm, in part thanks to its special attachment.

In use at Traineau’s granite-quarrying operation at Aizenay in Vendée, the Liebherr R 980 SME excavator was just what managing director Christophe Traineau needed. Ideal for quarrying solid rock, this French-designed and produced excavator offers 1.20m fixed cab elevation. There’s also a retractable ladder, widened access walkways and a handrail along the uppercarriage to assure safe and easy access for the operator and maintenance personnel. These access features were developed for Liebherr mining excavators.

The R 980 SME also features electric joysticks, shovel flap opening via the joystick and semi-automatic flap closing, a seat suspension, and soundproofing inside and out. The bottom dump shovel that comes with the excavator was developed and manufactured by Liebherr-France SAS in Colmar. With 5.1-cubic-metre capacity, this bottom dump shovel is supplied with a level 3 wear package kit (the highest level) to withstand the abrasiveness of the materials it handles. In this configuration, the bucket weighs in at 11,000kg. The bucket’s delta blade guarantees optimum penetration into mined materials, even when they are tightly bound to each other.

Traineau opted for the Liebherr R 980 SME excavator because this model is especially well suited to our customer's granite quarrying operation. The 104-tonne excavator is used for the various operating phases: rock sorting, rock crushing with the drop-ball, and loading at the quarry face. The shovel attachment is especially effective and accurate in the sorting and crushing processes.

With a total production of around 800,000 tonnes of aggregate per year, Traineau is reportedly satisfied with the R 980 SME excavator and its low fuel consumption of 55 litres per hour. After reaching the 1,000-hour mark with the machine, Traineau confirmed that the shovel attachment allows it to reduce cycle times and thus speed up dump truck loading.

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