Abstract: An excavating hoe or bucket includes a hoe or bucket body which is movable across an excavation area, and a structure for providing the hoe body or bucket body with a variable load capacity. The variable load capacity may be provided by a network of flexible line members such as chains, which may be disconnected from each other and reattached at different attachment or insertion locations, to increase or decrease the load capacity of the hoe or bucket.

Abstract: Method of excavating overburden from a mineral or coal deposit seam using a low wall winch component, a high wall which component and a hoe. The hoe is attached to the low wall winch component by one or more draglines and the hoe is attached to the high wall winch component by a tail line.The method includes the steps of:(i) moving the hoe by tensioning of the draglines by the low wall winch component through overburden created by preliminary drilling and blasting to move said overburden away from the mineral or coal deposit seams in one or more traverses wherein overburden is loaded onto the hoe and subsequently dumped onto a spoil bank; and(ii) moving the hoe at the end of the or each traverse back to the starting point of the traverse by untensioning of the draglines by the low wall winch component and tensioning of the tail line by the high wall winch component.There is also included dragline apparatus including the aforementioned low wall winch component, high wall winch component, and the hoe.