How Surface Mining Works

August 2004
 Table of Contents
• How are mines located?
• Mine Camps
• Mobile Equipment
• Lubrication Needs
• Mill
 Exploration

Did you ever wonder how a mine came to be located where it did?
Exploration is a long and difficult process fraught with risks. Initial
surveys are often made by looking at
on their magnetic signature. Visual “tells” may also be noticeable
from the air but this is really the point where ground work begins
 Exploration
On the ground, geologists and geophysisits continue the work. Using hand held equipment such as density
meters they measure the density of the ground and can further make inferences of the types of material
beneath them. They continue to look for signs of the minerals in questions or equally important for the types
of minerals (rocks) that are associated with the minerals in question.
For example, it is not very probable that one would ever find a vein of gold or copper or a diamond studded
rock sticking out. But gold is often found in association with quartz minerals (white rocks) and diamonds are
often found buried in a type of hard rock called Kimberlite that has been exposed to great heat and pressure.
If all looks good then exploratory drilling begins. Large drills are brought in to take long rock core samples
from the area or deposit of interest. These rock cores are very valuable and are usually kept locked up. The
rocks cores are assayed (tested in a lab) for the mineral content. From these cores a picture of the deposit in
3-D is slowly developed on a computer. It will not be an easy trip into most mines.
 Exploration

If all still looks good it’s on to the next step. An

exploration mine may be established. Tunneling,
excavation and drilling work begins to more fully
determine the nature of the rock that they will be
working in and to more fully ascertain the mineral
deposit. Many, many questions remain at this point.
If after years of work the deposit is close to the
surface and looks viable to mine a surface mine is
opened
 Mine Camp

This is where people live and work and it is located near the
Mill.
 THE PIT

This is were most of the lubricants used in a surface

mine are utilized. There are many pieces of equipment
you can find here depending on the mine
 Crawler Tractors and Bulldozers

The Bulldozer is often in the active mine to build new

ramps and roads for the Haul Trucks and Shovels to
travel on. A large ripping tooth is sometimes attached so
that very hard ground can be leveled.
Engine – DURON XL 15W-40
Hydraulics – HYDREX MV 36 /
DURON 10W
Transmission – PRODURO TO-4
10W / 30 / ALL SEASON
Final Drive – PRODURO TO-4 30
/50 / ALL SEASON
Track Rollers – TRAXON 80W-90
Grease – PRECISION GOLD / GOLD
MOLY
 Wheel Loaders

With the exception of large Electric Shovels, Wheel

Loaders have largely taken over the work once carried
out by cable shovels. They have huge capacity and are
very mobile and are able to quickly scoop up the rock
produced from blasting
Engine – DURON XL 15W-40
Transmission – PRODURO TO-4
10W / 30 / ALL SEASON
Hydraulics – HYDREX MV 36 /
DURON 10W
Final Drive – PRODURO TO-4 30
/50 / ALL SEASON
Grease – PRECISION GOLD / GOLD
MOLY
 Loader-Backhoes

Largely relegated to a support role, backhoes play an

important role in everyday operations.
Engine – DURON XL 15W-40

Hydraulics – HYDREX MV 36 / DURON 10W

Transmission – PRODURO TO-
4 10W / 30 / ALL SEASON

Final Drive – DURATRAN

Grease – PRECISION GOLD /
GOLD MOLY
 Scrapers / Earthmovers
Scrapers can be either self-propelled (they have there own
engine) or are pulled by a tractor and are used to move large
amounts of dirt very quickly across the surface. They are
often used at the beginning and end of a mining operation to
remove and restore the top layers of soil very quickly and
evenly.
Transmission – PRODURO TO-4
10W / 30 / ALL SEASON

Engine – DURON XL 15W-40

Hydraulics – HYDREX MV 36 /
DURON 10W

Final Drive – PRODURO TO-4

30 /50 / ALL SEASON

Grease – PRECISION GOLD /

GOLD MOLY
 Motor Graders
A Motor Graders primary purpose at a mine site is to
build and maintain roads in the pit area as well as all the
roads leading to the mine
Engine – DURON XL 15W-40

Transmission – PRODURO TO-4

10W / 30 / ALL SEASON

Hydraulics – HYDREX MV 36 /
DURON 10W

Grease – PRECISION GOLD /

GOLD MOLY

Final Drive – PRODURO TO-4 30 /

50 / ALL SEASON
 Haul Trucks

The life blood of the mine. Large Haul trucks haul up to

300 tons of rock and transport the material from
blasting to the ore crushing areas
HAUL TRUCK LUBRICATION
HAUL TRUCK LUBRICATION
 Haul Truck Lubricants

Example
Engine: MTU Series 4000 Duron XL 15W-40
Coolant System Ethylene Glycol
Hydraulic System: Steering Duron 10W
Drivers: Rear Wheel Ultima Synthetic EP 220
Hubs: Front Ultima Synthetic EP 220
Gearbox: Pump Drive Traxon XL 80W-140
Axle Dirt Seals Precision Gold
Grease Points Precision Gold
Pins: Body Prop Vulcan All-Season
 Cable Excavators / Wire Rope Shovels

Cable Excavators are slowly being replaced by Hydraulic

Excavators in many cases because they are cheaper to buy,
easier to operate, and quicker traveling. Wire-rope shovels
are capable of much heavier duty work and capacity than
hydraulic shovels even the bigger ones like the O&K
RH400. Wire-rope shovels are sturdier and will last
longer and generally require less maintenance overall.
 Hydraulic Excavators

Reliable hydraulic systems have enabled these

machines to take over the job of loading material into
the haul trucks from Cable Excavators.

Hydraulics – HYDREX MV 36 / DURON

10W

Transmission – TRAXON 80W-90

Engine – DURON XL 15W-40

Gear Swing Reduction –

TRAXON 80W-90

Grease – PRECISION GOLD / GOLD

MOLY (All Pins)
 Walking Draglines

Draglines are the largest of mobile mining pieces of

equipment. There function is to strip away the useless
over-burden and to move it out of the working area all
without the use of any other trucks or pieces of equipment.
 Lubricants on a Dragline

Vulcan

/Supergear Fluid 680

Slide Cam Compound/Monigham Cam Compound (Depends

on Brand & model as to which product would be used.
 Hydraulic Shovels

Petro-Canada promotes the use of Vulcan as an entire

machine lubricant. Quite often customers request an EP
Grease for bearing applications.

Vulcan Applications
Stick (Handles)

Crowd Gearing

House Rollers
Ring Gear
 Hydraulic Shovels

This model of Shovel does not have Open Gears inside the
house. Models of shovels that do, would obviously use Vulcan.
Bucket pins are typically lubricated with an EP Moly Grease.
Hydraulic Shovels Up Close
Hydraulic Shovels Up Close
 Hydraulic Shovels Up Close

The appropriate amount of Vulcan on the stick of Shovel

 Up Close

Vulcan at work on the underside of the Shovel.

Applied to Pinion and Ring Gears which turn the
machine.
 Mine Lubricants

Engine Crankcase
Duron 15W-40 or Duron XL 15W-40
Extended Oil Drains Very Valuable do to 24/7 nature
of the operation. Extended drains can mean the need
less equipment and huge $$$ savings.

Transmissions
Produro TO-4+ 10W or 30
Produro TO-4+ Synthetic All Season

Hydraulics (often need low temperature performance)

Duron 10W
Hydrex MV 36
Produro TO-4+ Synthetic All Season
 THE ORE CRUSH PIT

This is where the Haul trucks dump there loads into large
grates. The rock is given its first crushing at this point
before it is transferred by excavator to the Ball Mill. Rock
is normally crushed with giant crushers that use specially
hardened teeth to a diameter of a few inches or so. From
here the rock is transported by conveyor to the SAG (semi
autogenous grinding) mill
 ORE PROCESSING

A variable speed apron feeder pulls run-of-mine ore from a dump hopper to a
vibrating grizzly. Oversize is fed to a primary jaw crusher. Grizzly undersize and
jaw crusher product are combined and fed to open circuit secondary screening
and crushing.

Crushed fine ore is ground in a ball mill in closed circuit with a hydrocyclone.
Cyclone overflow is thickened and leached in a mechanically agitated leach tank.
Leached slurry is filtered to produce filter cake and a high-grade solution .
 The SAG Mill

Material from the Ore Crusher is first separated and then

feed to the SAG mill. Material here is separated again and
feed back into the SAG mill or onto the Ball Mill
The Ball Mill
 The Ball Mill

Inside the Ball Mill hard steel balls

grind the small rocks into powder so
that the minerals can be extracted or
leached from them by various
processes.
The lining of the Ball is of particular concern to the mill and
can be made of various materials. It is also here that large
open gears are used to turn the mill by huge electric motors
and the use of an excellent open gear lubricant such as Gear
Shield NC becomes critical to mill operation.
 BALL MILL ELECTRIC MOTOR

Bearing Lubrication – Premium R&O 68 or 100

BALL MILL GEAR SETS

Lubrication – Gearshield NC
 The Mill

It is here in the rest of the mill that the powdered rock

produced by the mill is concentrated to produce a
concentrated ore. Depending on the mine site, the ore may
be further refined to a saleable metal or transported to
another refiner for further refinement to the finished metal