This Takraf SRs 1300, weighing in at almost 1,700 tonnes, belongs to the German mining company Mitteldeutsche Braunkohlengesellschaft GmbH, otherwise known as Mibrag.
It is seen here on 26th July 2023 crossing the federal highway 176 on its way along the B176 from the Mibrag opencast mine in Schleenhain to its new home in the Peres mining field 11km to the west.
The shovel excavator is to be used there for lignite mining.
To protect the road surface from the beast’s crawler tracks, it was covered with tarpaulin and a metre-deep layer of gravel.
The journey began on 12th July and, with the machine moving at a stately speed of six metres per minute, which is less than a quarter of a mile per hour, it is set to complete on Monsay 31st July.
The Takraf excavator was built in 1981 and was first used in the Groitzscher Dreieck opencast mine. It has been modernised several times and had been at Schleenhain since 1998.
It stands 32 metres high and 21 metres wide, with a 74-metre wheel boom. The average production volume is around 1,200 tonnes of coal per hour or approximately 1,200 cubic metres of overburden per hour.
