The dragline removes the overburden material to allow efficient access to the coal seam below. This view shows the dragline moving its bucket to lift the loose material. Yes that's a full size bulldozer, note the size of the road grader. The dragline operators cab can be seen at the lower front corner of the structure. The overburden is broken into manageable pieces by an array of explosives buried into the ground in specific locations

After the unwanted material is moved the bucket loader, shown lower in the view, loads the coal into large dump trucks which move the coal to the established conveyor belts, which lead to the crushers, cleaners, sorters and then the load out and into the coal rail car.

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