Wirtgen’s new cutting drum, which will be making its tradeshow debut at MINExpo, is designed to be used with the company’s surface and cross application miners and enables the extraction of high-strength rocks and minerals that are hard to cut, such as limestone and gypsum, that have a uniaxial compressive strength of more than 100 MPa. The cutting drum was launched at a limestone quarry in Louisville, Nebraska, and, when equipped on a surface miner, extracted very hard limestone from a deposit that was previously unutilized. The company said that the use of the new cutting drum extended the working life of the quarry and eliminated the need for drilling and blasting at the site. The product’s direct belt drive transfers high usable power to the cutting drum, which is rigged with HT14 toolholders and also includes a redesigned cutting geometry.