Chap 1

AKSUM UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF MINES
DEPARTMENT OF MINING
ENGINEERING
Course Name: Mining Equipment's and
machineries
Compiled By: Kibrom Assefa T.

Introduction to
Mine Equipment’s and Machinery
SMM
UMM
03/26/2024 Compiled By: Kibrom Assefa T. 2

Department of Mining Engineering
INTRODUCTION
What is a machine?
• A machine is a tool containing one or more parts that uses energy to perform an
intended action. Machines are usually powered by chemical, thermal, or
electrical means, and are often motorized. Historically, a power tool also
required moving parts to classify as a machine. However, the advent of
electronics has led to the development of power tools without moving parts that
are considered machines
• A device consisting of fixed and moving parts that modifies mechanical energy
and transmits it in a more useful form.
• A system or device for doing work, as an automobile or a jackhammer, together
with its power source and auxiliary equipment.
What is a mining machine?
• It can be derived from the third definitions above that – a Mining
machine is a device for doing mining related work, as; a loader, a truck,
an excavator, etc. together with its power source and auxiliary equipment.
Mining related works include; drilling, explosive charging, loading,
hauling and auxiliary works of site preparation, clearing and road
construction and maintenance. This is the definition that we will be using
in this course.
• Equipment consists of machines or major tools necessary to complete a
given task. The tools a mechanic needs to repair a machine are an
example, while machine is a system or device for doing work, as an
automobile or a jackhammer .
1.1 Mine planning and equipment selection
• As a mining engineer you start thinking about the type of machinery to be selected
for a specific mine or project from early mine planning stage. Planning is the
process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a
desired goal (According to Wikipedia definition).
• In the mine planning process the initial machine selection is progressively refined
and different alternatives are compared. The refinement takes place as part of a
conceptual level of study, in the prefeasibility study and later in the final
feasibility study that include detail analysis. During mine planning, before
selection of equipment can be done for a specific project - the type of mining has
to be determined. The type of mining to be employed depends on site
characteristics, deposit characteristics and mine parameters.
• Once the type of mining is decided then selection of equipment is done by taking
into account the unit operations
03/26/2024 andAssefa
Compiled By: Kibrom theT. mining system, which are interrelated. 5
 Equipment selection involves choosing trucks and loaders to operate the
materials handling process. There are three primary considerations:
• Productivity: We must be able to produce enough ore to satisfy requirements.
• Cost: We want to keep purchasing and operating costs as low as possible.
• Compatibility: The trucks and loaders must be able to work together. Not all
trucks and loaders are compatible!
1.2 The objective of machinery selection
• As mining engineers, and most probably engineers from other disciplines like
civil engineers, we go through the selection process broadly to achieve the
following objectives, among others.
Right machine type among the options - for the intended application
Right machine size from the series of standard machines. In some cases a purpose
built machines may be design for the specific
Department application.
of Mining Engineering
cont.…
 Machine that would operate in its most efficient operating condition. One of the benefits of such
criteria is low operating per unit of output, e.g., lower cost $/tone output.
Steps to consider during selection process
First,
• Study available options that are suited for conditions of the mine under study
• Determine why and when each option should be considered
• Understand that utilization of machines takes place years after the planning has taken place. It is
essential that systems and machines selected are essential for that future period.
Then,
• Evaluate past and present patterns and possible trends for the future
• Conduct production rate calculation
• Match units in each of the option
• Calculate owning and operating cost
•03/26/2024
Use the calculation results for comparison
Compiled onT.the basis of production performance and operating7
By: Kibrom Assefa
cost to compare. Department of Mining Engineering
Selection of Loading Equipment's
• There are four groups of effective factors at the time of selecting surface mining
loading equipment's but these factors would be applicable with the same
correctness and safety in underground mining.
• 1- Performance factors: These factors are directly related to the productivity of
machine and include the cycle speed or loading cycle, accessible energy
(electricity), range of maneuver for digging, bucket capacity, travels speed and
reliability ability for availability of machine for the work or ready times of
operating.
• 2- Designing factors: Designing factors may provide a searching possibility in
quality and application of detailed plan including of complexity for facing of
operators and repair & maintenance workers, applied technology level and
different controls and accessible powers.

• 3- Support factors: Some times for evaluation of a machine we may benefit from
supporting and supplying factors that are the sign of manner and rate of services
and repair and maintenance of machines. The important considerations are easy
servicing, required special skills, availability and to have access to spare parts and
services and supplies of manufacturing factories.
• 4- Costs factors: Probably this factor is the most qualitative (final) factor. The
costs would be defined for mines and construction equipment by the use of
standard estimation methods. If different estimation theories such as lifetime,
interest rate, inflation, fuel and repair and reasonable maintenance, to be
considered, that will be obtained some meaningful and exact results. The general
method for determining of costs is the estimation of costs total operating and
capital costs all in accordance with ($/hr) and changing them into $/ton or $/m³.

1.3. Criteria for equipment selection
Major criteria for the selection of equipment for certain project include;
 General site condition, which determines working environment for the machinery
 Formation of the deposit characteristics broadly set the type and ruggedness of
the primary production equipment and the type of mining
 Mine parameters which define the scheduling production
1. General site condition aspects
• Altitude
• temperature range
• Rainfall
• type of terrain
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10
Cont.….
• power availability
• site accessibility
• skilled labor availability
• convenience to manufacturers support facility
 First four of the above points should be incorporated in the equipment design –
the rest affect long term productivity
2. Formation of the deposit characteristics, listed below, broadly set the type and
ruggedness of the primary production equipment and the type of mining.

cont.…
3. Mine parameters define the scheduling production and investment
targets established for the operation.

Unit operations
In mining unit operations related to surface mining may include most of the
following activities.
• Site Preparation (cutting timber)
• Cleaning & Grubbing
• Top soil removal
• Transport top soil to storage or to direct replacement
• Prepare drilling bench
• Drilling
• Charging and blasting or ripping with dozer ripper § Loading
• Transport of ore, e.g.., to process plant and waste to “waste rock dump”
• Reclamation that may involve loading, transport, leveling, profiling, etc.
• Top soil removal or overburden removal
• Depending on the user, the term overburden can be defined in several senses. For the miner,
overburden is used in the context of any material, loose or consolidated, lying over a
mineral deposit of ore or coal. This applies especially to surface mine operations.
• To the builder, civil engineer, or soils technician, the term can refer to only loose soil, sand,
or gravel that lies above the bedrock.
• Any evaluation of a specific need for overburden removal requires that the engineer first be
aware of the various designations of overburden, the state-of-the-art removal systems, and
methods to transport these materials to permanent deposition areas.
• When concerned with the development of a mine, the overburden removal system should
be in harmony with the mine planning of the future. Unless this and the other factors
influenced by overburden removal schemes are carefully considered, operations may suffer
in efficiency and costs.
•
Cont.…
• The most common machines in everyday use are: draglines, power shovels,
dozer/front-end loaders, dredges, motor scrapers, and bucket wheel excavators
(BWEs).
• Excavator selection should be well suited to the type of overburden occurrence.
This will involve consideration of depth of material, hardness, abrasiveness,
moisture, sub overburden topography, waste dump sites, ore overburden
interfaces, and surface topography.
• Topographic conditions must be suitable for the selected excavator. Very steep,
mountainous areas usually call for benching using shovel or front-end loader
type excavators. Gentle to moderately sloping conditions often are more
favorable to the dragline or bucket wheel excavator (BWE). Dozing and front-
end loader combinations may be applicable over a wide range of topographic
conditions.
1.4. Types and application of different
mining machines
• There are different types of materials handling.
mining machines in the world.• Materials handling costs are
How a mine works??? considered to account for 50% of
• At each location a loader loads ore the costs of the mine.
and waste onto trucks.
• The trucks then move the ore and
waste to stockpiles and dump-
sites respectively.
• Then they return to get loaded
again. This process is called

What Is Mobile Off-Road Heavy Equipment?
• Heavy equipment is a general term referring to a spectacularly diverse

category of vehicles, operated off of roads and highways with
purpose-built designs to perform a wide variety of industrial tasks.
• While the equipment may share many features of on-road vehicles
constructed primarily to transport people and goods at high speeds,
mobile, off-road heavy equipment functions in broad, non-
transportation industry sectors, such as earth moving, mining,
agriculture, construction, forestry, landscaping, and material handling.

Trucks
 Truck capacities vary from 36
tones to 215 tones.
•It is also important to note the truck
cycle time, which is the time it takes
for the truck to be loaded, travel
from the loader to the dump-site,
dump its contents and travel back
again.
•This time varies as the mine grows!
A CAT 777d dump truck

 Loaders include
 Electric rope shovels;
 Hydraulic loaders;
 Hydraulic backhoe excavators;
 Front end loaders.
Note: The Capacities of loaders
vary from 18 to 110 tones.

1.5. The utilization and availability of mining equipment's
• In any mining project, the major share of initial capital investment
goes towards the excavation and transportation equipment. Hence
it is very important to analyze the performance of those equipment, at
regular intervals to achieve cost- effectiveness in excavation and
transportation operations.
• The production performance of mining equipment depends on its
availability and utilization. Hence it is necessary to determine the
percentage availability and utilization of machinery with an aim to
improve the same.

Cont.…
• Availability :- how does your machine compare against best practice machine
for the amount of time it was available to work in the scheduled time.
• Utilization :- the available time how effective was your machine at
performing production related tasks.
 Different mines are following different terms and maintaining different
information. The only common information in most of the mines is the
working hours of mining machinery. There is a need to develop proper
feedback and to define terms, factors and indices relating to mining
equipment. These would serve as management’s tool in improving
performance. To sum up, there is a necessity to lay down on systematic basic,
well defined terms, factors and indices required for control and management
of mining equipment.
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Compiled By: Kibrom Assefa T.

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Chap 1

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AKSUM UNIVERSITY

Compiled By: Kibrom Assefa T.

03/26/2024 Compiled By: Kibrom Assefa T. 2

03/26/2024 Compiled By: Kibrom Assefa T. 8

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03/26/2024 Compiled By: Kibrom Assefa T. 11

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• Heavy equipment is a general term referring to a spectacularly diverse

03/26/2024 Compiled By: Kibrom Assefa T. 22

A CAT 777d dump truck

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Compiled By: Kibrom Assefa T.

Department of Mining Engineering

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