The bearing, which has a bore diameter of 1.25m, was manufactured at SKF’s factory in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Petra Öberg Gustafsson, product line manager for self-aligning rolling bearings at SKF, said: “SKF is a world leader in spherical roller bearings, manufacturing bearings of all sizes and series – from the smallest, with a 20mm bore size, to this large size bearing that weighs close to 8t.”

The bearing is equipped with SKF SensorMount, a system that measures the actual mounting fit of the bearing onto the shaft. It helps avoid the risk of improper mounting, a major issue for large size bearings. The bearing weighs 7,780kg, and each roller within it weighs 42kg.

The bearing is of the upgraded SKF Explorer class with improved wear resistance, thanks to the material heat treatment process that nearly doubles service life in poor lubrication and contaminated conditions.

SKF was chosen to supply the bearing due to its application engineering expertise and support, and the knowledge and experience in manufacturing large size industrial bearings.

Daniel Ortega, project manager at the Gothenburg factory, said: “We have worked in close cooperation with the customer, in order to design an optimum 241/1250 bearing that is particularly suitable for applications in the mining industry. These applications have extreme operating conditions and are very demanding from a bearing service life perspective.”