PIT DEVELOPMENT IN MINING

Activities in Open-pit Mining:

1. Clearing and grubbing.
2. Top soil removal.
3. Mine drainage and erosion and sediment control. (Diversion ditch systems are utilized to deflect the
water and direct it into natural drainages)
4. Mining Activity
5. Re-grading.
6. Topsoil replacement.
7. Re-vegetation

Fig. 1: Movement of Overburden, Waste Rock and Ore and the Destinations
 Pit Geometry

Fig. 2: Open pit terminology

Fig. 3: Parts of a bench

 Fig. 4: Section through a working bench

There are several types of benches. A working bench is one that is in the process of being mined. The
width being extracted is called the cut. The width of the working bench WB is defined as the distance from
the crest of the bench floor to the new toe position after the cut has been extracted. (Fig. 4). After the cut
has been removed, a safety bench or catch bench of width SB remains. The purpose of these catch benches
is to:
1. Collect the material which slides down from benches above,
2. Stop the downward progress of boulders.

Fig. 5: Functioning of catch benches.

 Fig. 6: Catch bench geometry

Fig. 7: Safety berms at bench edge.

A safety berm is left (Fig. 7) along the outer edge of a bench to prevent trucks and other machines from
backing over. It serves the same function as a guard rail. Normally, the pile has a height greater than or
equal to the tire radius.
 SELECTION OF EXCAVATING EQUIPMENT
The main operations in a surface mine; ground preparation, excavation and loading, transport, and
mineral treatment, are inter-dependent and the optimum cost per tonne may not be obtained by
attempting to minimize each of the individual costs.

The selection of the excavator or loader is of prime importance because it largely determines the other
equipment required and the mode of operation.

Cyclic vs. Continuous Excavators

Continuous operation is preferable, since it provides fuller plant utilization. In open-pit mining, the
continuous system is typified by the multi-bucket excavator (bucket wheel and bucket chain).

The Cyclic system is represented by shovels, draglines, front-end loaders, scrapers, rippers, bulldozers.

Material Handling System Classification

 Cyclic Excavators
1. Loading Shovels
The crawler-mounted loading shovel is the machine most capable of handling hard, dense, abrasive,
badly-fragmented ground by virtue of its positive crowd action and the possibility of applying a high-
break-out force.

Electric Rope Shovel

The electric rope shovel is one type of mining equipment primarily used in most large, high volume
operations as a loading unit. The performance of electrical rope shovels may vary with the muck-pile
characteristics, operator practice and skills, and machine type and conditions.

Fig. 1: Rope Shovel Fig. 2: Hydraulic Shovel

Fig. 3: Shovel Loading Operation

 Fig. 4: Operation of the Power Shovel

Fig. 5: Shovel Operating Positions

Size selection:
The first major step in shovel selection is the determination of dipper size. Since mine planners are mostly
concerned with in-situ volumes (bank volumes), these are generally used in calculations.

Dipper size can be expressed as:

𝑄
𝐵𝑐 =
𝐶 × 𝑆 × 𝐴 × 𝑂 × 𝐵𝑓 × 𝑃

Where, Bc – dipper capacity (volume)

Q – Production Volume per hour (Bank volume)
C – Theoretical cycles per hour for a 90° swing = 60/tc, where tc is shovel time for a 90° swing in
minutes.
A – Mechanical availability during the scheduled hours of work
O – Job operational factor
Bf – Dipper factor
S – Swing factor
P – Propel time factor
C – Theoretical cycles per hour: May be obtained from manufacturers literature or time studies. The skill
of the operator also has some effect on this.

S – Swing factor: Loading shovel times are normally based on a 90° swing. Variations in the angle of swing
necessitate correction of the shovel cycle time, most manufacturers provide charts to determine the
correction.

A – Availability: Generally defined as the mechanical availability during the scheduled hours.

O – Job Operational factor: Loading shovels are part of a system and as such subject to delays due to
management, supervision and labour deficiencies, job conditions, climate etc. The dipper capacity must
be increased to compensate for these losses in production time. Care must be taken to ensure that if the
propel time P is included in O, it is eliminated from the equation.

OA: Operating Efficiency (Refer Table below) – Depends on the working conditions and management and
supervision level

Management Conditions
Job Conditions
Excellent Good Fair Poor
Excellent 0.83 0.80 0.77 0.70
Good 0.76 0.73 0.70 0.64
Fair 0.72 0.69 0.66 0.60
poor 0.63 0.61 0.59 0.54

Bf – Dipper factor:

𝐹𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝐵𝑓 =
𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟

Fillability is the loose volume of material excavated in an average load as a ratio of the dipper capacity Bc;
best determined by field measurements (tables are also available).

𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 (𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒)(𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑘)

𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 =
𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 (𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒) (𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒)

P – Propel Time factor: depends upon the time required to propel the shovel during maneuvering. In strip
mining, where a relatively thin narrow bed is exposed, the shovel must move more often than in the case
where a high rock pile is being loaded
2. Loading Draglines
Word drag is used because it has the ability to drag material at far distance from the machine. Dragline
consists of drag rope, large bucket, boom, hoist rope and driving motors. As shown in the figure;

Fig. 5: Dragline

A large bucket is attached with dragline boom (it is truss like structure). Bucket is controlled with the help
of number of ropes and chains. There are two separate function ropes are attached with bucket. These
are hoist rope and drag rope.

Hoist rope is controlled with the help of electric motor and it supports the hoist-coupler assembly and
the bucket from the boom. The second one i.e., drag rope is used for drawing of bucket horizontally
towards the machine.

The crawler-mounted dragline finds limited applications as an open pit loading machine because;

 It has a less positive digging action than the shovel and the smaller sizes are not suitable for
loading dense, badly fragmented rocks, the cycle time is longer than that of an equivalent shovel

 It has poor spotting ability

The same basic formula for shovels can be applied here.

Walking Draglines
Walking draglines are extensively used for direct casting operations since they have a better
(capacity × reach)–service–weight ratio than any other single bucket machine.
3. Scraper
Scraper is a machine use for moving earth over short
distances (up to about two miles) over relatively
smooth areas. Either self-propelled or towed, it
consists of a wagon with a gate having a bladed
bottom. The blade scrapes up earth as the wagon
pushes forward and forces the excavated material
into the wagon. When the wagon is filled, the gate is
closed, and the material is carried to the place of
disposal.

4. Haul Trucks
Ultra-class mining trucks are designed to transport
heavy loads over spiraling roads. With fuel
efficiency, hauling productivity and operating costs
high on their list of priorities, mine operators are
particularly drawn to trucks with electrically driven
wheels powered by diesel generators, instead of
mechanical powertrains with gearboxes and
driveshafts.

Diesel electric trucks typically are easier to operate,

cost less to purchase and generally outperform
mechanical trucks, especially on steep grades.
They’re also easier to repair and maintain, which is
a real plus in remote mining locations where
uptime is critical, and work must be done on site.

5. Bulldozer
Bulldozer is a powerful machine for pushing earth or
rocks, consists of a heavy, broad steel blade or plate
mounted on the front of a tractor. Sometimes it uses
a four-wheel-drive tractor, but usually a track or
crawler type, mounted on continuous metal treads,
is employed. The blade may be lifted and forced
down by hydraulic rams. For digging, the blade is
held below surface level; for transporting, it is held
at the surface level; and for spreading, it is held
above the surface level, as the tractor moves
forward.

Bulldozers are used for shallow digging and ditching; short-range transportation of material;
spreading soil dumped from trucks; rough grading; removing trees, stumps, and boulders; and
cleaning and leveling around loading equipment. A bulldozer alone can do many types of
excavation, and it is useful in combination with other machinery in most excavation work.
 Continuous Excavators
Two most important types are:
1. Bucket Chain Excavator (BCE)
2. Bucket Wheel Excavator (BWE)

The Bucket Chain Excavator (BCE) can mine high outputs in weak unconsolidated ground, but it cannot
dig hard ground and is not selective in operation. Its most advantageous feature is the excellent
downward digging capacity.

Fig. 6: Schematic diagram of Bucket Chain Excavator (BCE); 1-BCE, 2-bucket, 3-chain (of buckets), 4-speed
measuring device, 5-drive actuator, 6-machine-building, 7-boom, 8-balanced load, 9-digging body,
10 – 13-ropes, 15-boot shaft

The Bucket Wheel Excavator (BWE) is the most effective machine for mining large outputs in weak
unconsolidated ground, although its application is extending into harder formations.

It can selectively mine faulted or intercalated ground. The BWE is fitted with evenly spaced buckets on
the periphery of the wheel. Excavated material is fed via a transfer point inside the wheel to the belt
conveyor system of the excavator for discharge. Machines are in service with theoretical out puts of up
to 10,000 cu.m. with machine masses exceeding 7000 mt.

Fig. 7: Schematic diagram of Bucket Wheel Excavator (BWE); 1-Bucket wheel, 2-Bucket wheel conveyor,
3-Receiving conveyor, 4-Bridge conveyor, 5-Discharge
Fig. 8: Bucket Chain Excavator (BCE) Fig. 9: Bucket Wheel Excavator (BWE)

Advantages of continuous excavators have lower impact loadings than comparable single-bucket
machines. This tends to reduce dynamic stresses, machine mass, maintenance costs and power
consumption.

Fig. 10: Diagrams of multibucket excavators: (a) nonrevolving chain type on rail mounting with side
dumping, (b) single-gantry, nonrevolving chain type on rail mounting with side dumping, (c) revolving
chain type on crawler mounting, (d) wheel type, (e) ladder-type trencher, (f) chain-type stripper

Output of Continuous Excavators

Usually rated at theoretical output.
60𝐹𝑠
𝑄𝑡ℎ =
𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟

Where: Qth – theoretical output (m3 per hour)

F – Capacity of a single bucket (m3)
S – Number of bucket discharges per minute
In selecting a continuous excavator, the following points favorable to the BWE must be considered.
1. The BWE is capable of selective mining where BCE is not capable.
2. The BWE can, in certain conditions, can handle relatively hard ground (sandstones, shales etc.)
3. Because it has a much higher number of wear points, maintenance costs of the BCE are higher.
4. The BWE has excellent high-digging capabilities.
5. The bucket-clearing action of the BWE is superior to that of the BCE, and it has less difficulty in
handling sticky materials.

The following conditions favor the BCE, provided boulders or hard bands are not present and selective
mining is not necessary.
1. Soft and abrasive rocks where high and deep cuts must be performed by one machine.
2. Wet pit operations,
3. Where exact slope profiles are required.
4. Where there are undulations in the surface of the mineral bed.

Most of the above are due to downward digging capabilities of the BCE.

Operations of continuous are generally limited to the following gradients: excavating in 1 in 20 and
travelling 1 in 10.

The full-block method with BWEs is normally adopted where selective mining is not necessary.

To obtain the advantage of the shortest possible lift and transport distance and lowest stripping costs in
thick overburden and/or thicker mineral, the direct across-the pit range of the BWE and BCE can be
extended by the use of;
 The mobile stacker boom
 The overburden bridge
Because of their limited operational flexibility, these units impose a strict discipline on planning, and the
following conditions should exist:
1. Sufficient proved reserves to justify the capital cost of the relatively expensive machine complex,
2. Relatively horizontal stratification over a wide area of the deposit, and
3. Uniform geologic conditions (absence of severe faulting, severe undulations, large variations in
overburden, thickness etc.)

The most important application of continuous excavators is in weak sedimentary deposits of relatively
great thickness where direct transport of the overburden across the pit is impracticable because of pit
width.

Pit Conveyor

Bucket Dragline