To dedicate oneself entirely to one cause, to realize extraordinary things. Moreover, to aim for more and for better with zeal, inspiring the people around you with ideas. These are the principles that Dmitry Lokhov lives by, a miner in the past, the founder of TAPP Group today.
— How did you come into the mining industry?
— As part of my university studies, I had an internship at Raspadskaya Coal Company, and during my time there I would frequently go down the mine and curiously learn the nitty-gritty of the business. Immediately after the university I got a job at the Tugnuysky coal mine (SUEK, Buryatia). I started as an excavator driver's assistant and after six months became a mechanical engineer. Later on, I would be seconded to the chief mechanic department. There, I became the youngest expert in this unit in the company's history.
Then I was promoted to deputy chief power engineer of Tugnuyskiy coal mine. I was exactly when the SUEK's management tasked the business to up the coal production from 370 thousand tons to 1 million tons of coal per month. In particular, by March 2010 the development of Nikolskoye field was supposed to start. In December 2009, myself and my colleagues were entrusted to realize a unique project: to deliver a dragline excavator (ESH 10 70) from the Tugnuyskaya mine to the new site.
The catch was that along the transportation path of 12 km there were no power lines. Our team and the maintenance engineers who serviced the quarry equipment took the challenge. In the end we came up with the idea of utilizing a BelAZ dump truck as a source of electricity. It would feed the power to the excavator's walking mechanism. We did all the necessary settings for the escalator: a measuring mode, recuperation mode and dynamic braking mode. The dragline walked all 12 kilometers without power lines and remained absolutely intact.