Instituto Superior Politécnico De Tete

Engineering Division

Course: Mining Engineering

2nd Year - Day Course, Class-B

Io Semester

English

Machine selection

Student:

Benjamim José Domingos

Teacher

Dra Helena

Tete, May 23, 2020

Index
Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
1. General objective:................................................................................................................3
1.2. Specific objectives: \........................................................................................................3
2. Equipment selection.............................................................................................................4
3. Stages of Equipment Selection.............................................................................................4
3.1. Type of equipment required.............................................................................................4
3.2. Specific type and specifications of equipment..................................................................5
3.3. Selection of manufacturers or suppliers............................................................................5
4. Disassemble without the use of explosives...........................................................................5
4.1. Excavators........................................................................................................................5
4.2. Shovel Excavator..............................................................................................................6
4.3. Dragline, New Line..........................................................................................................6
5. Transportation and its equipment.........................................................................................6
5.1. Trucks..............................................................................................................................6
5.2. Railways...........................................................................................................................7
5.3. Conveyor belts..................................................................................................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................8
Bibliographical.............................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The present work aims essentially to instill to the student the new subjects that concern
the selection of mining machines, that is, mining machines.

The mining activity aims to discover the existing resources on the planet, extract this
material through mining operations (open or underground) and transport it to different
unloading points, for its passage through ore processing operations to serve the industry.

The present work aims to present the stages of the selection of equipment used in
mining, to show which are the most common and some of their characteristics and
specificities. This information can be of great use for the preparation of the mining
project.

1. General objective:

 Selection of mining machines.

1.2. Specific objectives: \

 Have knowledge about the machines;

 Know how to make the selection of machines;

 Know which machine is suitable for each type of mining.

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 2. Equipment selection

The selection of mining equipment is one of the factors of paramount importance in the
stages of transformation of the mining of a mineral asset into an economic operation.
According to Qing-Xia (1982), drilling, dismantling, loading and transportation account
for between 30% and 40% of total costs. Therefore, the selection of this equipment
should be treated very carefully, as incorrect decisions can affect the production of a
mine.

In general, the selection process of this equipment can be divided into the following
stages: type of equipment required; size and/or number of equipment; specific type and
specifications of the equipment; selection of manufacturers or suppliers.

3. Stages of Equipment Selection

The main objective in the selection of equipment is to ensure, as far as possible, that the
mine is provided with resources to enable it to supply the best quality ore, at a low cost
per ton, to the treatment plant for a long and continuous period. To this end, some
criteria for the correct selection of the equipment to be used are followed.

3.1. Type of equipment required

To reach the conclusion on which equipment to select in the mine, a vast amount of
information about the deposit, operations and pit outline must be known. With regard to
the ore body and the processing plant, one must have the knowledge of the mass of ore
to be treated by day, hour, degree of control and quality required for the power plant.

The factors that concern the ore and need to be known are: The required and allowed
rate of ore feed by the plant; the shielding required to control the ore content; type of
segregation to avoid undesirable mixtures; the route and distance traveled by the ore;
the dimension difference between the charging point and the discharge point. In the case
of sterile one should know: The sterile/ore ratio and the way the sterile occurs in the
deposit, whether external or on the body, if interspersed, etc.

It is also of great importance to have knowledge about some characteristics of ore and
sterile, such as: density in situ and blistered, humidity, degree of fragmentation,

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hardness, abrasiveness, compressive strength, etc. In general, mining equipment is
involved in the activities of dismantling, loading and transporting ore and mine sterile.

3.2. Specific type and specifications of equipment

A detailed description of equipment specifications is necessary to ensure that the listed

equipment will match that required and will perform the desired function in addition to
providing the comparison of costs and merits of various specific equipment with the
information provided by the manufacturers and their catalogs.

The description must be made so that it contains two parts. One with information such
as performance (utilization indices, physical availability and average yields), capacity,
strength, weight, size, etc. Another with information of an ideal equipment, which
allows a more economical and safe operation, easy maintenance and reduced repair
costs. These steps should allow an easy comparison when surveying costs of the various
machines and also an evaluation of various items, such as initial investment,
performance and operating costs of the various units, which then need to be related to
all economic factors of the operation.

3.3. Selection of manufacturers or suppliers

A study should evaluate the proposals of manufacturers, which should carry in analysis
costs and technical adaptability, relative ease or difficulty of maintenance and repairs
and the reputation of the manufacturer in relation to technical services (provision of
services), availability, costs of parts and guarantees.

4. Disassemble without the use of explosives

4.1. Excavators

Excavators are machines commonly used to mechanically perform the dismantling

and/or loading of sterile and ore. They are intended for the dismantling and loading of
soft rocks; or the load of products that have been dismantled by explosives in the case of
masses formed by harder rocks.

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4.2. Shovel Excavator

The shovel bucket excavator has the bucket facing up and digs performing movements
in the bottom-up direction. Today most of these excavators are hydraulic, leaving the
operation of cables for handling the bucket in less use.

Because they can perform the dismantling and/or loading work on all the plots, they are
commonly used in almost all open air methods, being able to perform operations both in
the sterile and in the ore, but always on fronts located above the level of the step in
which they are located.

4.3. Dragline, New Line

The excavator with drag bucket or drag-line consists of a metal truss, at the end of
which there is a pulley through which passes the lifting cable of the bucket, driven by
the cabrestante. The boom is supported by the cable, varying its angle between 25° and
40°, through articulation, and can have its range increased with the intercalation of an
intermediate section.

In mining its ideal field of application, especially for large ones, is the removal of sterile
little thick and constant.

5. Transportation and its equipment

5.1. Trucks

They are the most frequent means of transport in open-air farms. Its combination with
the loader or some type of excavator is characteristic of most open pit holdings. They
are equipment that should be used for medium and large transport distances due to the
relatively high speeds they can achieve, allowing to obtain high production capacities at
low costs.

Transmission systems and tyre types have a very decisive influence on the performance
and behaviour of these machines. The selection of the various types of dimensions of
these transport vehicles will depend mainly on the distances, the volume to be removed,
the degree of fragmentation of the products, the characteristics of the roads and rocks
transported, the dimensions of the loading and unloading sites, and also the loading
equipment used.

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5.2. Railways

Rail transport is widely used for the transport of large volumes of mineral goods both in
Mozambique and in several countries. Railways are generally used where there are large
reserves, requiring very high daily productions

5.3. Conveyor belts

It is now known that conveyor belts are a more economical transport system when
production is high. These machines are used in conjunction with excavators and usually
with materials of lower grain size so as not to damage the material that makes up the
screens.

In cases where one wonders whether to use the conveyor belt or opt for trucks, a study
should be done to point out which alternative is more advantageous, but the belts have
some advantages that can overcome trucks: lower maintenance costs; high production;
long distances; variations in slopes, etc. Some points against are: less flexibility; occupy
large spaces between the axes; recoveries because it is a continuous miner. (Couto,
1990).

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Conclusion
In the present work, it was concluded that the selection criteria of the equipment of a
mining, as well as the most common equipment used in this type of mining, showing
some of its characteristics. With this, it was observed how natural, design and economic
factors influence the selection of mining equipment.

The characteristics of the rocks and the deposit, topography of the site, are the natural
factors. Project factors can be considered as equipment indices, transport distances,
production and others. The economic ones are represented by unit costs, initial
investment, return on investment, etc., and represent the most important and decisive
factor for making choices.

Analyzing the selection criteria and the characteristics of the equipment presented, it is
perceived that each mine has its specificity, making it not possible to have a single
correct and adequate method for all situations, and that the selection of equipment must
be done correctly to work the best possible scenario.

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Bibliographical
COUTO, R.T.S. Lavras open pit and main equipment. Porto, 1990. Doctoral thesis.
UNIVERSITY OF PORTO.

FERREIRA, L. A. Excavation and Exploitation of Open Pit Mines. Juiz de Fora, 2013:
Federal University of Juiz de Fora - UFJF.