Surface Miners can replace drilling, Surface Miners
4
BY RANDY NOLAND Surface Miners O pen pit mining is among mankind’s largest manufactur- ing and process-intensive operations. With huge investments in land, mining permits, human resources and equipment, mining companies are constantly analyzing their processes for improved production and safety. As a result of this pursuit, mining has histori- cally unearthed new technologies that not only benefited their bottom line, but has benefited other industries including site and heavy highway construction. Open pit or surface mining, including strip mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) is removed. is is the opposite of under- ground mining in which the overlying rock is left in place, and the minerals are removed through shafts or tunnels. Surface mining began in the mid- sixteenth century and is practiced throughout the world, although the majority of surface mining occurs in North America. It gained popularity throughout the 20th century, and is now the predominant form of mining in coal beds such as those in Appalachia and America’s Midwest. In most forms of surface mining, heavy equipment is used to first remove the overburden. Next, huge machines, such as dragline excavators, mining shovels and bucket wheel excavators extract the mineral. e overburden and mineral removal is traditionally preceded by drilling, blasting and depending on the blast fragmentation, possibly crushing. Traditional Mining Workflow In order to fracture the overburden and the desired minerals, holes are drilled per a blast hole design. e blast hole design is prepared by an engineer who strategically places and angles the drill holes for optimal fragmentation and Surface Miners can replace drilling, blasting, crushing and loading as one machine, one operator and one process. Displayed with permission • Machine Control Magazine • Vol. 3 No. 1 • Copyright 2013 Spatial Media • www.machinecontrolonline.com
Transcript of Surface Miners can replace drilling, Surface Miners
By Randy NolaNd
Surface MinersO pen pit mining is among
mankindrsquos largest manufactur-ing and process-intensive
operations With huge investments in land mining permits human resources and equipment mining companies are constantly analyzing their processes for improved production and safety As a result of this pursuit mining has histori-cally unearthed new technologies that not only benefited their bottom line but has benefited other industries including site and heavy highway construction
Open pit or surface mining including strip mining and mountaintop removal mining is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) is removed This is the opposite of under-ground mining in which the overlying rock is left in place and the minerals are removed through shafts or tunnels
Surface mining began in the mid-sixteenth century and is practiced throughout the world although the majority of surface mining occurs in North America It gained popularity throughout the 20th century and is now the predominant form of mining in coal beds such as those in Appalachia and Americarsquos Midwest
In most forms of surface mining heavy equipment is used to first remove the overburden Next huge machines such as dragline excavators mining shovels and bucket wheel excavators extract the mineral The overburden and mineral removal is traditionally preceded by drilling blasting and depending on the blast fragmentation possibly crushing
Traditional Mining WorkflowIn order to fracture the overburden and the desired minerals holes are drilled per a blast hole design The blast hole design is prepared by an engineer who strategically places and angles the drill holes for optimal fragmentation and
Surface Miners can replace drilling blasting crushing and loading as one
machine one operator and one process
Displayed with permission bull Machine Control Magazine bull Vol 3 No 1 bull Copyright 2013 Spatial Media bull wwwmachinecontrolonlinecom
blast direction Blast hole design is a specialized science in its own right Typically the engineerrsquos hole patterns are marked on the ground to guide large drill rig operators This can be chal-lenging if not impossible at night or in adverse weather conditions Positioning via 3D drilling systems is gaining in popularity The blast hole design file is loaded into the 3D drilling system to provide guidance for hole pattern placement angle and depth (Read more about the benefits of 3D Drilling at httpwwwmachinecontrolonlinecomrandy-noland2723-3d-drilling-systems-features-a-benefits)
Once the holes are drilled (see Fig 1) demolitions experts load the holes with prescribed explosives As you can imagine safety is of critical concern and the site must be cleared for the blast (See Fig 2) The support system to store explosives explosive vehicles to carry explosives and accessories are extensive and highly regulated (additional expense)
After the blast the material is assessed and if proper fragmentation
was not achieved additional crushing is required The material is then loaded by a shovel dragline or wheel loader into trucks for hauling (See Fig 3)
Enter the Surface Miner In the pursuit of process refinement the surface miner is becoming a popular machine choice for many operations First lets take a brief look at its origin
Development of surface miners was begun in the 1970s was continued
into the early 1980s and marks a new paradigm in surface mining systems The design concept for the surface miner is based on the milling principle and in a reverse of technology contribution owes its origin to the road milling machines which cuts the old road surface for road construction Since the 1990s surface miners have gained in popularity with improved design of the cutting drum and higher machine power This has enabled the users to excavate rock and
FIg 2 Blasting Drilled holes are filled with explosives and detonated in hopes of optimal fragmentation and blast direction
Fig 1 Large drills bore dozens of blast holes per an engineers design Some drills may use 3D machine guidance for navigation to the hole as well as monitor angle and depth
Displayed with permission bull Machine Control Magazine bull Vol 3 No 1 bull Copyright 2013 Spatial Media bull wwwmachinecontrolonlinecom
other minerals with competitive cost and eco-friendliness Viability of a mining project rests upon the appropriate selection of an excavation system right from the planning stage
Basic ConceptThe surface miner uses a drum to mill or excavate the material Different manu-facturers place the drums in different locations on the machine ie the middle the front etc and use different methods for powering the drums Also the shape composition and arrangement of the bits on the drum vary amongst manufactures and applications
The operating method of surface miners resembles that of cold milling machines A special cutting drum cuts and crushes the material Drum location bit shape composition and arrangement vary between manufactur-ers and applications Robust conveyor systems then load the material on dumpers or discharge it to the side of the miner Alternatively the material
can also be deposited as a windrow between the minerrsquos crawler tracks This is valuable when there are not enough trucks available for loading the material from the conveyor beltA highly precise automatic leveling system maintains the cutting depth This highly accurate method enables useful minerals coal or limestone to be mined selectively and with high purity
BenefitsThere are several benefits of using a surface miner depending on the application The primary benefits are that drilling blasting crushing and loading are replaced by a single machine and single process These machines can run 24 hours per day without the coordination of the drill-blast process There are some areas where blasting is prohibited thus surface miners may be the only choice
In some regions active mining must be setback 30-50 from high-walls due to blasting This results in a significant
amount of unavailable minerals Surface miners can provide greater exploitation of a minersquos resources
Producing small-sized material in a uniform configuration allows minerals to be handled more efficiently than product produced by drilling and blasting The uniform product size also allows more efficient settings on secondary crushing systems savings that can continue well past the primary crushing stage
Where the desired minerals are in thin layers precision surface mining can follow the layers and help prevent unwanted mixing of materials Since it is entirely possible that all layers are economically valuablendashbut not compatiblendashthe ability to separate them through precision surface mining provides benefits over drilling and blasting Precision surface mining allows this process to be closely controlled so that almost all available products are recovered resulting in a product of higher quality and value
The Wirtgen 4200 SM mills material with a smooth even bench The material can be loaded to trucks via conveyor belt or wind rowed behind the machine for later loading
Fig 3 Material is loaded after drilling and blasting typically by a dragline or shovel as shown here
Displayed with permission bull Machine Control Magazine bull Vol 3 No 1 bull Copyright 2013 Spatial Media bull wwwmachinecontrolonlinecom
CO2 Emission savings are another potential benefit especially in this era of carbon cap and trade Increased production with less machines all support this potential
3D Machine Control and PositioningPrecision surface mining is a great candidate for utilizing high accuracy GPS technology and two-way data communication An engineer is able to create a mine plan in the office and send the data to the Terrain Leveler The operator can then pull the plan up on the screen and go to work based on the new mine plan that is displayed
Surface miners can offer a flat level bench via their leveling system 3D machine control can also assist with keeping the cutting drum steady at a desired elevation Site connectivity features could include production rates volumes idle time service time as well as fuel consumption This information among others can be streamed back to a central fleet management system for analysis reporting and historical playback
AutonomousSemi-Autonomous MiningIn the future the machine design and the mine method make it very amenable first to remote control and ultimately autonomous operation due to surface mining being a relatively repeatable process when compared to conventional mining It also avoids the stopstart nature of drill and blast
ConclusionHigher mineral prices and demand along with stricter environmental regulations are driving mining operations to explore new methods for extracting their minerals Surface miners offer some mining applications a simple precision and cost effective solution These systems are also candidates for 3D machine control and site connectivity and offer strong future potential for driving tomorrowrsquos autonomous mines MC
Randy Noland is the Managing Editor and Cofounder of Machine Control Magazine
RefeReNces
Montrie Chad (2003) To Save the Land and People A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia United States The University of North Carolina Press pp 17 ISBN 0-8078-2765-7
Blasthole Drilling in Open Pit MiningmdashThird edition 2012
3D DrillingndashFeatures and Benefits
Predicting ldquocuttabilityrdquo with surface minersndashA rockmass classification approach Dey K Ghose AKbNational Institute of Technology Rourkela 769008 Indian School of Mines University Dhanbad Journal of Mines Metals and Fuels Volume 56 Issue 5-6 May 2008 Pages 85-91
Large Surface Miners-Applications and Cost Calculations
Wirtgen Surface Miners
Welcome to Tenova Takraf
Videos RefeReNces foR suRface MiNeRs
Vermeer Surface Miners at work
Iron Ore Mining in AustraliamdashWirtgen 4200 SM
Lignite Mining in the USAmdash
Wirtgen 4200 SM
Wirgten SM 4200 I attended the Wirtgen Group Mineral Technology Days last September with 1400 mining specialists and quarry operators from more than 65 countries Wirtgen has been active in surface mining since 1980
A man admires the cutting drum on a Vermeer surface miner
Displayed with permission bull Machine Control Magazine bull Vol 3 No 1 bull Copyright 2013 Spatial Media bull wwwmachinecontrolonlinecom
blast direction Blast hole design is a specialized science in its own right Typically the engineerrsquos hole patterns are marked on the ground to guide large drill rig operators This can be chal-lenging if not impossible at night or in adverse weather conditions Positioning via 3D drilling systems is gaining in popularity The blast hole design file is loaded into the 3D drilling system to provide guidance for hole pattern placement angle and depth (Read more about the benefits of 3D Drilling at httpwwwmachinecontrolonlinecomrandy-noland2723-3d-drilling-systems-features-a-benefits)
Once the holes are drilled (see Fig 1) demolitions experts load the holes with prescribed explosives As you can imagine safety is of critical concern and the site must be cleared for the blast (See Fig 2) The support system to store explosives explosive vehicles to carry explosives and accessories are extensive and highly regulated (additional expense)
After the blast the material is assessed and if proper fragmentation
was not achieved additional crushing is required The material is then loaded by a shovel dragline or wheel loader into trucks for hauling (See Fig 3)
Enter the Surface Miner In the pursuit of process refinement the surface miner is becoming a popular machine choice for many operations First lets take a brief look at its origin
Development of surface miners was begun in the 1970s was continued
into the early 1980s and marks a new paradigm in surface mining systems The design concept for the surface miner is based on the milling principle and in a reverse of technology contribution owes its origin to the road milling machines which cuts the old road surface for road construction Since the 1990s surface miners have gained in popularity with improved design of the cutting drum and higher machine power This has enabled the users to excavate rock and
FIg 2 Blasting Drilled holes are filled with explosives and detonated in hopes of optimal fragmentation and blast direction
Fig 1 Large drills bore dozens of blast holes per an engineers design Some drills may use 3D machine guidance for navigation to the hole as well as monitor angle and depth
Displayed with permission bull Machine Control Magazine bull Vol 3 No 1 bull Copyright 2013 Spatial Media bull wwwmachinecontrolonlinecom
other minerals with competitive cost and eco-friendliness Viability of a mining project rests upon the appropriate selection of an excavation system right from the planning stage
Basic ConceptThe surface miner uses a drum to mill or excavate the material Different manu-facturers place the drums in different locations on the machine ie the middle the front etc and use different methods for powering the drums Also the shape composition and arrangement of the bits on the drum vary amongst manufactures and applications
The operating method of surface miners resembles that of cold milling machines A special cutting drum cuts and crushes the material Drum location bit shape composition and arrangement vary between manufactur-ers and applications Robust conveyor systems then load the material on dumpers or discharge it to the side of the miner Alternatively the material
can also be deposited as a windrow between the minerrsquos crawler tracks This is valuable when there are not enough trucks available for loading the material from the conveyor beltA highly precise automatic leveling system maintains the cutting depth This highly accurate method enables useful minerals coal or limestone to be mined selectively and with high purity
BenefitsThere are several benefits of using a surface miner depending on the application The primary benefits are that drilling blasting crushing and loading are replaced by a single machine and single process These machines can run 24 hours per day without the coordination of the drill-blast process There are some areas where blasting is prohibited thus surface miners may be the only choice
In some regions active mining must be setback 30-50 from high-walls due to blasting This results in a significant
amount of unavailable minerals Surface miners can provide greater exploitation of a minersquos resources
Producing small-sized material in a uniform configuration allows minerals to be handled more efficiently than product produced by drilling and blasting The uniform product size also allows more efficient settings on secondary crushing systems savings that can continue well past the primary crushing stage
Where the desired minerals are in thin layers precision surface mining can follow the layers and help prevent unwanted mixing of materials Since it is entirely possible that all layers are economically valuablendashbut not compatiblendashthe ability to separate them through precision surface mining provides benefits over drilling and blasting Precision surface mining allows this process to be closely controlled so that almost all available products are recovered resulting in a product of higher quality and value
The Wirtgen 4200 SM mills material with a smooth even bench The material can be loaded to trucks via conveyor belt or wind rowed behind the machine for later loading
Fig 3 Material is loaded after drilling and blasting typically by a dragline or shovel as shown here
Displayed with permission bull Machine Control Magazine bull Vol 3 No 1 bull Copyright 2013 Spatial Media bull wwwmachinecontrolonlinecom
CO2 Emission savings are another potential benefit especially in this era of carbon cap and trade Increased production with less machines all support this potential
3D Machine Control and PositioningPrecision surface mining is a great candidate for utilizing high accuracy GPS technology and two-way data communication An engineer is able to create a mine plan in the office and send the data to the Terrain Leveler The operator can then pull the plan up on the screen and go to work based on the new mine plan that is displayed
Surface miners can offer a flat level bench via their leveling system 3D machine control can also assist with keeping the cutting drum steady at a desired elevation Site connectivity features could include production rates volumes idle time service time as well as fuel consumption This information among others can be streamed back to a central fleet management system for analysis reporting and historical playback
AutonomousSemi-Autonomous MiningIn the future the machine design and the mine method make it very amenable first to remote control and ultimately autonomous operation due to surface mining being a relatively repeatable process when compared to conventional mining It also avoids the stopstart nature of drill and blast
ConclusionHigher mineral prices and demand along with stricter environmental regulations are driving mining operations to explore new methods for extracting their minerals Surface miners offer some mining applications a simple precision and cost effective solution These systems are also candidates for 3D machine control and site connectivity and offer strong future potential for driving tomorrowrsquos autonomous mines MC
Randy Noland is the Managing Editor and Cofounder of Machine Control Magazine
RefeReNces
Montrie Chad (2003) To Save the Land and People A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia United States The University of North Carolina Press pp 17 ISBN 0-8078-2765-7
Blasthole Drilling in Open Pit MiningmdashThird edition 2012
3D DrillingndashFeatures and Benefits
Predicting ldquocuttabilityrdquo with surface minersndashA rockmass classification approach Dey K Ghose AKbNational Institute of Technology Rourkela 769008 Indian School of Mines University Dhanbad Journal of Mines Metals and Fuels Volume 56 Issue 5-6 May 2008 Pages 85-91
Large Surface Miners-Applications and Cost Calculations
Wirtgen Surface Miners
Welcome to Tenova Takraf
Videos RefeReNces foR suRface MiNeRs
Vermeer Surface Miners at work
Iron Ore Mining in AustraliamdashWirtgen 4200 SM
Lignite Mining in the USAmdash
Wirtgen 4200 SM
Wirgten SM 4200 I attended the Wirtgen Group Mineral Technology Days last September with 1400 mining specialists and quarry operators from more than 65 countries Wirtgen has been active in surface mining since 1980
A man admires the cutting drum on a Vermeer surface miner
Displayed with permission bull Machine Control Magazine bull Vol 3 No 1 bull Copyright 2013 Spatial Media bull wwwmachinecontrolonlinecom
other minerals with competitive cost and eco-friendliness Viability of a mining project rests upon the appropriate selection of an excavation system right from the planning stage
Basic ConceptThe surface miner uses a drum to mill or excavate the material Different manu-facturers place the drums in different locations on the machine ie the middle the front etc and use different methods for powering the drums Also the shape composition and arrangement of the bits on the drum vary amongst manufactures and applications
The operating method of surface miners resembles that of cold milling machines A special cutting drum cuts and crushes the material Drum location bit shape composition and arrangement vary between manufactur-ers and applications Robust conveyor systems then load the material on dumpers or discharge it to the side of the miner Alternatively the material
can also be deposited as a windrow between the minerrsquos crawler tracks This is valuable when there are not enough trucks available for loading the material from the conveyor beltA highly precise automatic leveling system maintains the cutting depth This highly accurate method enables useful minerals coal or limestone to be mined selectively and with high purity
BenefitsThere are several benefits of using a surface miner depending on the application The primary benefits are that drilling blasting crushing and loading are replaced by a single machine and single process These machines can run 24 hours per day without the coordination of the drill-blast process There are some areas where blasting is prohibited thus surface miners may be the only choice
In some regions active mining must be setback 30-50 from high-walls due to blasting This results in a significant
amount of unavailable minerals Surface miners can provide greater exploitation of a minersquos resources
Producing small-sized material in a uniform configuration allows minerals to be handled more efficiently than product produced by drilling and blasting The uniform product size also allows more efficient settings on secondary crushing systems savings that can continue well past the primary crushing stage
Where the desired minerals are in thin layers precision surface mining can follow the layers and help prevent unwanted mixing of materials Since it is entirely possible that all layers are economically valuablendashbut not compatiblendashthe ability to separate them through precision surface mining provides benefits over drilling and blasting Precision surface mining allows this process to be closely controlled so that almost all available products are recovered resulting in a product of higher quality and value
The Wirtgen 4200 SM mills material with a smooth even bench The material can be loaded to trucks via conveyor belt or wind rowed behind the machine for later loading
Fig 3 Material is loaded after drilling and blasting typically by a dragline or shovel as shown here
Displayed with permission bull Machine Control Magazine bull Vol 3 No 1 bull Copyright 2013 Spatial Media bull wwwmachinecontrolonlinecom
CO2 Emission savings are another potential benefit especially in this era of carbon cap and trade Increased production with less machines all support this potential
3D Machine Control and PositioningPrecision surface mining is a great candidate for utilizing high accuracy GPS technology and two-way data communication An engineer is able to create a mine plan in the office and send the data to the Terrain Leveler The operator can then pull the plan up on the screen and go to work based on the new mine plan that is displayed
Surface miners can offer a flat level bench via their leveling system 3D machine control can also assist with keeping the cutting drum steady at a desired elevation Site connectivity features could include production rates volumes idle time service time as well as fuel consumption This information among others can be streamed back to a central fleet management system for analysis reporting and historical playback
AutonomousSemi-Autonomous MiningIn the future the machine design and the mine method make it very amenable first to remote control and ultimately autonomous operation due to surface mining being a relatively repeatable process when compared to conventional mining It also avoids the stopstart nature of drill and blast
ConclusionHigher mineral prices and demand along with stricter environmental regulations are driving mining operations to explore new methods for extracting their minerals Surface miners offer some mining applications a simple precision and cost effective solution These systems are also candidates for 3D machine control and site connectivity and offer strong future potential for driving tomorrowrsquos autonomous mines MC
Randy Noland is the Managing Editor and Cofounder of Machine Control Magazine
RefeReNces
Montrie Chad (2003) To Save the Land and People A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia United States The University of North Carolina Press pp 17 ISBN 0-8078-2765-7
Blasthole Drilling in Open Pit MiningmdashThird edition 2012
3D DrillingndashFeatures and Benefits
Predicting ldquocuttabilityrdquo with surface minersndashA rockmass classification approach Dey K Ghose AKbNational Institute of Technology Rourkela 769008 Indian School of Mines University Dhanbad Journal of Mines Metals and Fuels Volume 56 Issue 5-6 May 2008 Pages 85-91
Large Surface Miners-Applications and Cost Calculations
Wirtgen Surface Miners
Welcome to Tenova Takraf
Videos RefeReNces foR suRface MiNeRs
Vermeer Surface Miners at work
Iron Ore Mining in AustraliamdashWirtgen 4200 SM
Lignite Mining in the USAmdash
Wirtgen 4200 SM
Wirgten SM 4200 I attended the Wirtgen Group Mineral Technology Days last September with 1400 mining specialists and quarry operators from more than 65 countries Wirtgen has been active in surface mining since 1980
A man admires the cutting drum on a Vermeer surface miner
Displayed with permission bull Machine Control Magazine bull Vol 3 No 1 bull Copyright 2013 Spatial Media bull wwwmachinecontrolonlinecom
CO2 Emission savings are another potential benefit especially in this era of carbon cap and trade Increased production with less machines all support this potential
3D Machine Control and PositioningPrecision surface mining is a great candidate for utilizing high accuracy GPS technology and two-way data communication An engineer is able to create a mine plan in the office and send the data to the Terrain Leveler The operator can then pull the plan up on the screen and go to work based on the new mine plan that is displayed
Surface miners can offer a flat level bench via their leveling system 3D machine control can also assist with keeping the cutting drum steady at a desired elevation Site connectivity features could include production rates volumes idle time service time as well as fuel consumption This information among others can be streamed back to a central fleet management system for analysis reporting and historical playback
AutonomousSemi-Autonomous MiningIn the future the machine design and the mine method make it very amenable first to remote control and ultimately autonomous operation due to surface mining being a relatively repeatable process when compared to conventional mining It also avoids the stopstart nature of drill and blast
ConclusionHigher mineral prices and demand along with stricter environmental regulations are driving mining operations to explore new methods for extracting their minerals Surface miners offer some mining applications a simple precision and cost effective solution These systems are also candidates for 3D machine control and site connectivity and offer strong future potential for driving tomorrowrsquos autonomous mines MC
Randy Noland is the Managing Editor and Cofounder of Machine Control Magazine
RefeReNces
Montrie Chad (2003) To Save the Land and People A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia United States The University of North Carolina Press pp 17 ISBN 0-8078-2765-7
Blasthole Drilling in Open Pit MiningmdashThird edition 2012
3D DrillingndashFeatures and Benefits
Predicting ldquocuttabilityrdquo with surface minersndashA rockmass classification approach Dey K Ghose AKbNational Institute of Technology Rourkela 769008 Indian School of Mines University Dhanbad Journal of Mines Metals and Fuels Volume 56 Issue 5-6 May 2008 Pages 85-91
Large Surface Miners-Applications and Cost Calculations
Wirtgen Surface Miners
Welcome to Tenova Takraf
Videos RefeReNces foR suRface MiNeRs
Vermeer Surface Miners at work
Iron Ore Mining in AustraliamdashWirtgen 4200 SM
Lignite Mining in the USAmdash
Wirtgen 4200 SM
Wirgten SM 4200 I attended the Wirtgen Group Mineral Technology Days last September with 1400 mining specialists and quarry operators from more than 65 countries Wirtgen has been active in surface mining since 1980
A man admires the cutting drum on a Vermeer surface miner
Displayed with permission bull Machine Control Magazine bull Vol 3 No 1 bull Copyright 2013 Spatial Media bull wwwmachinecontrolonlinecom
