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GEM of Egypt

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GEM of Egypt

The GEM of Egypt was a power shovel used for strip mining. Built in 1966, the machine had worked in the Egypt Valley coalfield, the GEM acronym standing for Giant Earth Mover or Giant Excavating Machine. It was one of only two Bucyrus-Erie 1950-B shovels built and one of two to use the knee action crowd, licensed from Marion Power Shovel in exchange to Marion's use of BE's cable crowd patent. The GEM had a 170' boom and a 130 cubic yard bucket. The machine began work in January, 1967 for Hanna Coal, and was later purchased by Consolidated Coal (CONSOL) in "Little Egypt Valley" near Barnesville, Ohio. The machine was parked in 1988 and finally scrapped in 1991 off Ohio SR9 between New Athens and Fairpoint. Parts of the shovel were used to keep its twin, The Silver Spade, operating until it too was retired.

References

GEM of Egypt Wikipedia