Material lift in Dotternhausen, Germany

A Holcim cement plant is located in Dotternhausen, between Balingen and Rottweil in Baden-Württemberg. Since 1942, limestone "Weisser Jura" has been transported from the Plettenberg mountain to the cement plant by means of a material ropeway. In September 2020, the Bartholet company was able to implement a ropeway project that achieves a conveying capacity of 450 tons per hour over the 2.3km long route with 138 trolleys. Despite the unchanged weekly mining output on the Plettenberg, the weekend operation of the material ropeway has been discontinued. For this purpose, the conveying capacity of the material ropeway was increased from 300 tph to 450 tph, which resulted in a reduction of the daily net operating time from approx. 13.5 to 9 hours.
This high conveying capacity results in savings for Holcim in terms of operating personnel as a result of the reduced operating time. The ropeway is also capable of automatically folding away the cams required for material transport in the end stations, which makes it possible to run four 4-car cabs in combined operation at the same time as the trolleys. This makes it possible, if necessary, to also transport people to the Plettenberg mine, for example for the miners or for visitors.