Mining equipment is a critical part of the mining industry. Mined minerals are used in almost every consumer product today. In fact, coal and uranium-based nuclear power provide for 50% of the country’s energy needs.
This article will show you some popular types of mining equipment used in the mining industry and subsurface mining methods. Let’s begin!
Common Types Of Mining Equipment Used in Mining
Keep in mind that most of these mining equipments are suitable only for surface mining. However, few of them can help you with subsurface mining methods.
The first equipment for mining is mining truck. Surface miners need heavy-duty vehicles to transport supplies around the site. Large mining trucks, often known as off-highway trucks, come in mechanical and electric drive varieties, with varying degrees of power and environmental friendliness.
These mining vehicles, which differ from standard trucks with extra-large tires, can carry big loads across uneven terrain, frequently in near-surface mines. They are used to support surface and subsurface mining methods. It is a supporting mining machine.
These mining trucks can also move heavy mined materials or ore off the site because of their significant payload capabilities. When carrying big cargoes, large mining trucks need to operate in a variety of harsh circumstances, such as severe cold, heat, thick dust, high elevations, and sloping hillsides.
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2. Hydraulic Shovels
The second type of mining equipment is Hydraulic Shovels. Mining shovels, or excavators as they’re more often known, evolved from the steam shovels of the past. Many current designs utilize hydraulics to propel the shovel through hard materials.
Because of its feature, the tools are used for initial digging in surface mining but doesn’t come in handy with subsurface mining methods. Without moving much, the operator may reach stuff in a circle that’s a considerable distance away using the pivoting motion.
Hydraulic mining shovels have a variety of uses, including the following:
- Moving earth and minerals
- Scooping materials into the loader
- Removing rocks that get in the way
- Getting some of the mined minerals to their next destination
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3. Equipment for mining – Dozers
Large mining dozers can easily transport materials around a mine site. Dozers can now operate in a broader range of terrain because of vehicles’ availability with wheels or tracks.
As a type of mining equipment, dozers needed mostly in surface mining and not in subsurface mining methods. By adding some necessary attachments, dozers may be used for a variety of different tasks.
- Removing the top layer of soil and exposing the underlying rock
- Keeping a mining site clean by shoving debris out of the way of workers
- Exploiting plants by ripping them out of the ground and discarding them
- Removing rocks and debris from the area surrounding a mine
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Electric rope shovels utilize a system of pulleys and ropes instead of hydraulics to move the shovel at the end of the arm. Unlike hydraulic ones, electric shovels are more efficient in the long run since they consume less energy.
Hydraulic excavators use a similar technique to that of electric rope shovels in their work. Rope shovels may be used in the following ways:
Removing overburden to make way for a mine
Digging through some really tough surface
Moving earth
Moving mined material
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It is one of the most important types of mining equipments. A jumbo drill rig is used to drill holes in rock or soil to place explosive charges for blasting open-pit mines. Percussion drills, often known as hammer drills, are another option.
Drill bits used in rotary mining machines spin under pressure as they cut through rock. The rock is ground down by the bit as it rotates, and pressurized air is used to return it to the top of the drill, where it may be blown out and reused. However, you won’t need this in underground mining methods.
When using a hammer rock drill, the bit is forced into the earth by the force of the hammer. Compressed air pushes dirt out of the path so the bit can always find fresh ground while drilling.
Uses for rock and rotary drills include:
- Creating holes in the ground to receive surface mining blasting
- Drilling for wells production
- Drilling in pre-split rock
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Road access is uncommon in mines. To move materials and carry mined products out, even people near main highways need local roads constructed.
As a type of mining equipment, graders ensure that roads are graded and drained adequately with motorized graders. Motor graders are critical to the effectiveness of the mine’s operations because they provide the integrity of the roadways used to carry the material in and out of the mining area.
Graders are often used for a variety of tasks, such as removing snow and ice from roadways. This type of mining equipment is useful for both surface and subsurface mining methods.
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Nothing beats the flexibility of big wheel loaders when it comes to scooping up and rapidly transporting material around a mining site so that it can be loaded into trucks.
On the other hand, larger versions can haul iron ore or rock, with a bucket capacity of up to 38 cubic yards. Wheel loaders come in a wide range of sizes and capacities to fit your surface mine and transport the loads you need.
It is also an important underground mining equipment. Large wheel loaders may perform various activities, including loading subsurface mining methods material into trucks for transportation.
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Essentially, draglines look like mining excavators with a bucket attached to a boom that is supported by a system of ropes and cables. Overburden or mined material is collected by lowering the bucket and scraping it along the ground.
Draglines are the surface miner and not underground mining equipment. They can move tons of overburden to get a surface mine ready. Other typical uses are:
Removing a strip mine’s exposed ore, such as tar sands
Reducing emissions as compared to alternative techniques of overburden removal
Removing material by cutting onto high wall surfaces
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9. Scrapers (Wheel Tractors)
Another important mining machine is Scrapers. A wheel tractor scraper resembles a motor grader in appearance. However, unlike graders, scrapers usually include an attached bin for collecting the debris they remove from the ground’s surface.
The scraper’s bin is raised and lowered by the driver within the cab using controls. When the bin is placed on the ground, the edge scratches the soil, allowing the items to fall into the bin.
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10. Underground Mining Loaders
This is an underground mining equipment. Because they operate in such tight quarters, underground mining equipment like these have unique requirements. Furthermore, in a mine’s confined environment, these vehicles will not emit any pollutants. As a result, surface miner will be not efficient for subsurface mining methods.
Underground mining equipment like trucks and loaders use specifically designed engines that don’t emit any pollutants but are still powerful enough to transport large amounts of rock.
These mining equipments have a variety of applications, including the following:
- Putting mined or extracted materials onto trucks
- Getting materials to the surface
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Specialized Tools For Subsurface Mining Methods
Instead of exposing mineral resources to the air, subsurface mining entails extracting minerals from a depth of a few meters below ground. Therefore, it has higher requirements for mining equipments.
Subsurface mining methods and tools used for various purposes, including automating operations and transporting mined materials in zero-emission vehicles.
Subsurface mining gears may take a variety of forms:
Tools for Room and pillar mining
To dig out the remaining required material, miners build ore pillars to hold up the roof as they do so. Instead of using workers, this method may utilize a continuous mining mechanism to remove the material.
Because mining is such an essential part of contemporary life, it’s no surprise that mining equipment production is a growing sector. Equipment for both subsurface mining methods and surface mining may be found in abundance in this sector.
The only homework you have is to choose the best one based on your needs from the best mining equipment manufactures. Though bigger vehicles help a lot, smaller mining equipment sometimes comes in handy.
When it comes to mining equipment manufacturers, Fucheng is a professional mining equipment manufacturer. Fucheng is a professional provider of Underground Mining Machinery. Such as mining drill, mining trucks. If you are interested, please feel free to consult.
