History

Foundation of the Lauchhammer works

Commissioning of the first blast furnace, and therewith, the beginning of manufacture of wrought iron and cast goods in the newly founded “Lauchhammer”.

Establishment of the mechanical engineering workshop

Steam engines and blower machines for mines were among the first mechanical engineering products supplied to underground mines. 

Start of structural steel engineering

A wide range of halls, buildings, elevated railway structures and bridges were fabricated to meet the rapidly growing demand. 

The world’s first conveyor bridge

ATG, originally based in Leipzig and later merged into the Lauchhammer works, developed the first overburden conveyor bridge for a lignite mine near Lauchhammer. The machine could remove 10 m of overburden in one cut. 

Supply of the first bucket-wheel excavators

Right after the acquisition of the intellectual property rights in 1926, the first three bucket-wheel excavators were supplied to a diamond mine in Southern Africa. 

The TAKRAF trademark was registered

The ABUS association had, already in 1948, fostered collaboration of various manufacturers of equipment for the mining and heavy industry in Eastern Germany. Beginning with the registration in 1964, all East German mining, materials handling and crane products were marketed under the TAKRAF trademark and coordinated by the Schwermaschinenbau TAKRAF holding.

The first 60 m overburden conveyor bridge is built

The world’s largest moveable overburden conveyor bridge with a span of 272.5 m +/- 12.8 m was built for the lignite mine, Welzow-Sued. This was followed, until 1991, by four other conveyor bridges, almost identical in construction.

Supply of the 500th bucket-wheel excavator

Formation of TAKRAF Schwermaschinenbau AG and supply of the 500^th bucket-wheel excavator

Commissioning of the 60 m overburden conveyor bridge F60

Commissioning of the 60 m overburden conveyor bridge in the Klettwitz-Nord opencast mine, the world’s largest bridge complex, now Visitor’s Mine “F60 Lichterfeld”

Foundation of TAKRAF Lauchhammer GmbH

Concentration of decades of expertise and intellectual property in mining and materials handling in the newly formed TAKRAF Lauchhammer GmbH with locations in Leipzig and Lauchhammer. In 1994, MAN acquired TAKRAF and integrated its own related business lines into the new entity, which then operated as MAN TAKRAF Fördertechnik GmbH.

TAKRAF’s first semi-mobile crushing station in Escondida (Chile) marks the entry into copper ore mining

TAKRAF supplies its first overland conveyor to El Abra (Chile) and equips the leach pad with innovative bridge conveyor technology

Acquisition of TAKRAF by Techint Group and integration into Tenova, Techint’s technology provider

Beginning of the development of comminution technology

The commissioning of the first Sizer marks TAKRAF’s entry into comminution, soon followed by large double roll crushers and later by High Pressure Grinding Rolls (HPGR).
At the same time, we also expanded our refurbishment business, offering a complete HPGR roller refurbishment solution.

Integration of minerals processing specialist, DELKOR, into TAKRAF

DELKOR is an industry specialist in solid/liquid separation and mineral processing applications for the mineral, chemical and industrial markets, offering comminution, flotation, sedimentation, filtration, screening, and gravity separation systems.

DELKOR introduces its proprietary MAXGen™ mechanism for its DELKOR BQR Flotation Cells

DELKOR’s newest generation BQR Flotation Cells, now equipped with its latest MAXGen^™ mechanism, achieve superior metallurgical performance and assist in maximizing metal recovery together with reduced power consumption and operational costs.