mining compass

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News From All Corners of The African Continent

Issue 1 August/September 2012

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- August/September 2012 Page 3

August/September 2012 - August/September 2012 Page 5

By More Love Mafu

Construction work on the new Kusile Power Station, Eskom’s second most advanced coal project and a vital component in the strategy to meet the ever increasing de-

mand for electricity in South Africa is progressing well.

Kusile, a Ndebele and Siswati word meaning “The Dawn has Come” is four times larger than the Gautrain project in terms of Capital expenditure and on completion will be the fourth largest coal plant in the world.

Comprising of supercritical high efficient tech-nology, world class environmental controls and air-cooled condensers; the new base-load power station will be the first to use a Flue Gas De-sul-phurisation (FGD).

The project located in the Nkangala District of Mpumalanga Province encompasses the con-struction, commissioning and operation of a new coal-fired power station and its associated infra-structure next to the existing Kendal Power station. With a capacity of 4800MW and expected to have

six generating units, the first unit is planned for commercial operation in 2014 thereafter other units will be commissioned at 8 months intervals till 2018.

The state-of-the-art power station will have a su-percritical boiler of about 115 meters height which will consume less coal than conventional boilers as well as air cooled condensers (ACC) on the Tur-bine exhaust steam which will be constructed on and supported by twenty 50 meter high columns.

Each chimney will be about 220 meters high con-taining three flues. The FGD will eliminate sulphur

oxides, nitrous oxides.

The FGD plant is designed to remove the sulphur based products of combustion from the flue gases and the limestone would be used as feedstock with Gypsum, which could be used in ceiling and dry wall partitions, as the by product.

The team of professionals have put plans in place that will ensure that the environmental pollution is well managed. The FGD has been installed to remove Sulphur oxides and nitrous oxides from flue gases. As a Zero Liquid Effluent discharge site, any pol-luted water on site is kept within the process. Ku-

sile Power Station gets its water for the FGD from waste water recovered from the process ensuring that the plant makes use of water from within the plant’s processes. Having an estimated nominal cost of R169 billion, the power station has managed to create over 5 000 direct local jobs during the construction phase whilst local business participartion on the project have reached the R900 million mark and the figure is expected to go up to R3 billion by the end of the project.

Upon its completion, 600 plus minus employees will be employed permanently. However, the size of the project presents a number of challenges

which include attracting the quantity and the nec-essary quality of labour required.

However, the team of professionals including the major contractors have established training cen-tres in order to give people within the area neces-sary skills that equip them with knowledge and skills to work on the project.

The project has managed to develop and improve infrastructure in the proximity of the site. Roads have been improved and new ones constructed like the new 26 kilometre road linking N4 and N12 and 18 houses have been built for relocated families.

Eskom’s Kusile Power Station goes greenluted water on site is kept within the process. Kusile Power Station gets its water for the FGD from waste water recovered from the process ensuring that the plant makes use of water from within the plant’s processes.


Client Eskom Holdings SOC Limited

Project Managers Eskom Holdings SOC Limited & Black & Veatch International

Designers Eskom Holdings SOC Limited& Black & Veatch International

Structural Engineers Eskom Holdings SOC Limited & Black & Veatch International

Electrical Engineers Eskom Holdings SOC Limited& Black & Veatch International

Main Contractors Hitachi, Siemens, Alstom, Staffanuti Stocks, WBHO, Bateman, Grinaker, Group 5 & Basil Read

Boiler Manufacturers Hitachi

Turbine Manufacturers Alstom

FGD Manufactures

Professional Team

Alstom Consortium with Cosira

EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS.

Minister Malusi Gigaba

“Use electricity wisely and together

we can create a brighter future for

all South Africans.”

www.49M.co.za S&S/445973/E/49M/Minister

445973 49M Minister 297x210.indd 1 2012/06/21 11:45 AM


BMG-MIN08122011.psC:\!BMG\#Jobs\Adverts\2011\122011\BMG-MIN08122011.cdr12 July 2012 08:00:17 AMColor profile: Disabled

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New to BMG’s range of Tsubaki cam clutch-es is the recently launched BR-HT series, designed for use in equipment that in-cludes inclined conveyors and bucket el-

evators. These backstop cam clutches, which offer optimised speed over-running and higher torque than conventional cam clutches, prevent reverse rotation of drive shafts, thus avoiding damage to machinery and expensive equipment.

The BR-HT series, which is available in 65 units, with bore sizes from 20 to 320 mm, provides torque capacities from 105 Nm to 366 000 Nm and maximum over-running speeds from 1 000 rpm to 3 600 rpm.

“These new robust backstop cam clutches, ideal for OEM applications, have a special integrated design of lift-off cams that provide mechanical engagement only when needed and optimised speed overrunning, with no contact between cams and races,” says Carlo Beukes, BMG’s power transmission product manager. “At all other times, the cam clutch rotates freely, with no mechanical contact in the clutch mechanism. The result of this non-contact operation is extended service.

“The high torque capacity of the BR-HT clutch is the result of a design featuring a full comple-ment of cams to provide the maximum number of load transmitting members per given diameter. This means greater torque capacity, size- for- size, compared to other types of one- way clutches.”

The simple design, in which the cam clutch mech-anism is incorporated in a cage between standard dimension inner and outer bearing races, allows the cam clutch to be easily integrated into a wide range of mechanical systems. The facility for this type of mounting is further enhanced by a keyway that simplifies installation, by ensuring positive lo-cation and fixing of the clutches onto shafts.

With the outer race of the clutch anchored to a stationary member, the inner race can overrun freely in one direction of rotation, even at high speed. Reverse rotation is instantaneously pre-vented by the automatic engagement of the clutch.

South Africa’s Mine Health and Safety Act states that the installation of incline conveyor belts must

include the fitting and use of one or more devices to prevent run-back or run-on to prevent injury by materials or minerals falling from a conveyor belt. Tsubaki back stop cam clutches - designed for safety in high or low speed applications meet the requirements of this legislation.

BMG’s technical team advises on the selection of the correct cam clutch for each application and the appropriate installation and usage for opti-mum performance and improved safety stand-ards. For extended service life, correct lubrication methods and dust prevention care are also critical.

Released by Lindy Morton Festivitas Telephone (031) 502 2374 or 083 268 6666

For further information Carlo Beukes, Product Manager, BMG’s Power Transmission Division

PO Box 25192, Gateway, 4321Telephone : (031) 576 6200 Fax : (031) 576 6582Email : [email protected] Web : www.bmgworld.net

bmg-tsubaki-br-ht-backstop-cam-clutches…one

New to BMG’s range of Tsubaki cam clutches is the recently launched BR-HT series, designed for use in equipment that in-cludes inclined conveyors and bucket elevators. These backstop cam clutches, which offer optimised speed over-running and higher torque than conventional cam clutches, prevent reverse rotation of drive shafts, thus avoiding damage to machinery and expensive equipment.

South Africa’s Mine Health and Safety Act states that the installa-tion of incline conveyor belts must include the fitting and use of one or more devices to prevent run-back or run-on to prevent injury by materials or minerals falling from a conveyor belt.


The Swiss company Geobrugg AG, world leader in the design and manufacture of Geohazard Solutions has recently estab-lished a sales office in South Africa. Geo-

brugg have been providing Geohazard solutions for over 60 years, such as reliable and innovative flexible rockfall, debris flow and landslide barriers, as well as slope stabilization systems and rockfall

nettings.

All Geobrugg geohazard solution systems utilize mesh manufactured from high tensile wire that has a tensile strength of 1770 N/mm2. Compared to traditional mild steel wire with a tensile strength of 350 – 450 N/mm2 this is more than three times stronger. This enable Geobrugg to offer systems

with higher strength which are flexible and at a light weight.

Before being released to the market all their sys-tems are rigorously 1:1 field crash tested by inde-pendent authorities, confirming the suitability of the products for their application and providing investors and their planers with the necessary

confidence.

Recently their latest flexible rockfall barrier ’s per-formance was confirmed during the approval test in accordance with ETAG 027 for rockfall protec-tion kits by the European Organization for Techni-cal Approvals. Under the supervision of WSL – the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Land-scape Research – Geobrugg’s flexible rockfall bar-rier set a new world record by successfully stop-ping a concrete block weighing 20 tones, which was impacting the barrier with 103 km/h. The re-sulting impact energy was 8000 kJ, exceeding the previous limit for such high performance rockfall barriers of 5000 kJ by 60 percent. To enable en-gineers to specify cost effective solutions for each type of risk, Geobrugg manufactures a full range of rockfall barriers for impact energies from 100 kJ to 8000 kJ.

Another common method for minimizing rock-fall risks involves covering the problem area with rockfall netting, working like a drape. The high tensile steel wire mesh drape contains and con-trols rockfall, so that they accumulate at the toe of the slope.

Another method used to reduce the risk of rock-fall involves stabilizing the problem area with the TECCO® slope stabilization system. With this method the slope is covered with the high ten-sile mesh which is pretensioned to the slope by means of soil-, rock nails or anchors.

Flexible debris flow and landslide barriers are an other recent development by Geobrugg. Research in cooperation with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology as well as WSL lead to a profound un-derstanding of the behavior of both landslides / debris flow material and their velocity. For a suc-cessful and cost-effective design the typical mass of water, mud and rock distributed over the entire area of flexible debris flow and landslide barriers is being taken into account.

The strength and corrosion-resistant properties of Geobrugg’s high tensile wire mesh products are ideal for the tough environmental conditions often encountered in open-pit mines e.g. rockfall barriers on perms giving mine workers greater protection against rockslides. Rockfall barriers are for instance installed in mines in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Southern Africa, North America, Chile or Peru. On Koolan Island in a massive mine remediation project one of the largest rockfall TECCO® mesh drape mining application was installed.

In certain cases the TECCO® mesh is used as a stabilization system in conjunction with cable bolts. Geobrugg also expects a strong demand for mesh for underground applications using the revolutionary MESHA® installation handler, a

mechanized chain link mesh handling system. The MESHA® installation handler is retrofitable to any multi-boom underground jumbo, while maintain-ing two feeds for drilling. The jumbo operator me-chanically places and holds the Geobrugg mesh in position, bolting to the back and walls using friction bolts or grouted / resign bolts. This system substantially reduces for mine operators the in-stallation time by upto 40% compared to welded mesh using conventional methods and up to 70% compared to the time applying shotcrete. Manual handling of heavy mesh sheets by the jumbo op-erator is eliminated as well as work in the unsup-ported ground.

Geobrugg AG, represented in more than 40 coun-tries achieved during 2011 a turnover US $ 100 million. The company is manufacturing in Europe, North America, Australia, China and Japan. Geo-brugg AG is an operating company of the Swiss BRUGG Group. The BRUGG Group had a turnover of approximately US$ 680 million in 2011 and is one of Europe’s largest steel rope and associated product manufacturers. – www.geobrugg.com/mining

About Geobrugg:1. Geobrugg AG is the specialist supplier of pro-tection systems in the geotechnical, architecture and security industries.2. Geobrugg AG is an operating company of the Swiss BRUGG Group.3. The Geobrugg Group has an annual world-wide turnover of approximately US $ 100 mil-lion.4. Geobrugg AG’s main office and factory is at Romanshorn on Lake Constance in the eastern part of Switzerland.5. The BRUGG Group had a turnover of approxi-mately US $ 680 million in 2011 and is one of Europe’s largest steel rope and associated prod-uct manufacturers.

Managing potential risks to infrastructure from rockfall, slope failure, shallow landslide and debris flows

TECCO® drape installation

The strength and corrosion-resistant properties of Geobrugg’s high tensile wire mesh products are ideal for the tough environmental conditions often encountered in open-pit mines e.g. rockfall barriers on perms giving mine workers greater protection against rockslides.


In open-pit mines, flexible rockfall barriers allow for steeper pit walls while at the same time providing effective protection for workers and equipment. Saved mining costs and the value of additional ore consider-ably exceed the installation cost of flexible barriers.

In underground mining, TECCO® mesh of high-tensile steel wire protects against rockfall, rock bursts and squeezing ground. With the ROCK MESHATM installation handler, compatible with multi-arm drilling jumbos, the TECCO® mesh is anchored 30% faster than conventional mesh.

Request our brochure and discuss your rockfall hazard problems with our specialists.

Rock burst and Rockfall protection in the mining industry: safer - faster - more economical

Bart Schoevaerts, Geobrugg Manager AfricaCell SA: +27 845 132 [email protected]

Headoffice: Geobrugg AG, CH-8590 Romanshorn • Switzerland • Tel. +41 71 466 81 55 • [email protected]

Rockfall stopped by flexible rockfall barrier

Mechanical installation of TECCO®chainlink mesh with MESHA® installation handler

August/September 2012

South Africa’s skills crisis has been exacer-bated by the closure of traditional training facilities, which has led to a sharp decline in the number of qualified apprentices.

This has created a large technical skills gap in the country and impacts the wider logistics industry in terms of sourcing suitable skills and resources. But logistics and supply chain services provider Cargo Carriers has identified training and capacity build-ing as key to organisational competitiveness.

Cargo Carriers experienced dramatic growth in 2010/11, and expects this growth to continue into 2012. But growth brings with it the challenges of maintaining service standards and capacity. These challenges, however, are being met through the company’s active training and transformation pro-gramme.

“Two years ago we identified growth as our big-gest challenge,” says Cargo Carriers Joint CEO Murray Bolton. “We decided to focus on transfor-mation and training to strengthen our competi-tiveness while increasing capacity.”

As a performance driven company, Cargo Carriers believes in recognising good performance and career counselling. Performance appraisals are undertaken twice a year for all employees to en-sure continuous performance improvement and development. Training and development plans are guided by gaps identified during the perfor-mance appraisals as well as by the identified ca-reer paths for an individual’s growth.

Mandatory internal training, such as defensive driving and in-cab assessments are done on an annual basis to assess and enhance the compe-tencies of drivers. This training is constantly re-viewed and updated to ensure that drivers are aware of the changes in legislation and all aspects of their responsibilities. The drivers are evaluated by skilled driver trainers both on the road and in the classroom.

While Cargo Carriers believes in creating op-portunity for staff to pursue bigger and better things, positioning itself as an employer of choice in the industry, the company appreciates its role in bringing previously disadvantaged individuals

into the mainstream economy. Its various training programmes include:

• A management trainee programme for transport management and logistics graduates

• A learnership programme for internal audit and risk training (in partnership with the Institute of Internal Auditors – South African Chapter)

• Disabled learnership programme (in partnership with the Production Man-agement Institute) for 35 black female learners

• General training to enhance the existing skills of employees

The opening of Cargo Carriers’ R1m training cen-tre in Sasolburg is the culmination of the com-pany’s firm commitment to and compliance with Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ) policies.

The training centre, which will accommodate about 20 students every year, is Cargo Carriers’ tool to ensure that as the company grows, so too does its people’s skills.

“The training centre provides true, sustainable skills transfer and growth and is fully accredited. It helps to ensure that we remain the logistics sup-plier of choice,” says Bolton.

The first intake of individuals was initiated in 2010 and comprised seven four-year apprenticeships in the technical field and ten drivers, who were trained and licensed to operate specialised loads and vehicles over a period of nine months.

All of the individuals going through training are fully educated on SHEQ. The training division is headed by long-serving Cargo Carriers employ-ees, making it a genuine apprenticeship with hands-on input from people who have been in the industry for years.

There is no doubt that in recognising the skills shortage within the transport and logistics indus-try, particularly with respect to drivers and techni-cal staff, Cargo Carriers is positively contributing to sustaining and improving the availability of these scarce resources.

Enabling business growth through skills development Cargo Carriers sees opening doors for individuals as creating opportunities for the company

All of the individuals going through training are fully educated on SHEQ. The training division is headed by long-serving Cargo Carriers employees, making it a genuine apprenticeship with hands-on input from people who have been in the industry for years.

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The mining industry has placed an increased focus on transformation. This is evident from Anglo Platinum’s recent multi-billion rand BEE deal and the current debate sur-

rounding the Mining Charter ’s inability to exact transformation in the industry.

Another key focus has been on safety with South Africa’s goldmines being the deepest and deadli-est in the world. So far this year there have been a total of 92 deaths and the Department of Miner-als and Resources is currently reviewing the Mine Health and Safety Act in a bid to strengthen en-forcement and remove ambiguities.

South Africa’s top players are under pressure to meet Level 4 BBBEE or better with high Safety lev-els in order to increase revenue and retain mining rights.

Cargo Carriers, a JSE-listed logistics services pro-vider, has recently made its return to the mining industry with a Level 4 BEE status. The company has been steadily increasing its empowerment credentials, moving from a Level 7 to a Level 4 in a matter of only four years.

This stems from the company’s long-term plan to raise its BEE score, not just for the sake of com-pliance, but for the ability to win more business and create greater capacity for growth. To achieve this, years ago Cargo Carriers formed a BEE com-mittee to launch the company into a new age of compliance.

“Our diverse and extensive BBBEE programme has placed Cargo Carriers in South Africa’s top three listed and empowered transport compa-nies,” says Andre van Vuuren, Marketing Director at Cargo Carriers.

“The reason we now enjoy an increased score has a lot to do with our skills and enterprise develop-ment programmes, as well as our commitment to social development in the communities in which we operate.”

Skills development was by far Cargo Carriers’

most improved score, rising from 5.6 in 2010 to 15, the maximum amount of points that can be awarded. This is a strategically important crite-rion due to the capacity and skills challenges that desperately need resolution to truly build a better future for all.

“In terms of equity based empowerment,” says Boitumelo Choche, Group Audit and Risk Man-ager at Cargo Carriers. “We have set up and now support a number of owner-driver businesses, and have established several industry-focused and empowered businesses with previously dis-advantaged industry participants.”

The owner-drivers are well looked after as Cargo Carriers assists with financial planning, offering training courses to further their abilities as both drivers and business owners. These owner-driver schemes are subject to a very careful selection process, after which a rigorous monthly opera-tional and financial mentoring process begins.

“As a company that believes that South Africa’s fu-ture can only be secured through real transforma-tion, we continuously strive to improve our BBBEE scores.” says Choche.

It is this commitment to transformation and safety that wins and maintains large contracts for Cargo Carriers, especially in the mining sector. The leap from Level 4 to Level 3 may take more than the yearly lead time from Level 7 to Level 4, but Cargo Carriers is already making a concerted effort to become the most empowered logistics services provider in the country.

Mining companies, whose compliance and trans-formation obligations are challenged by the in-dustry charter for mining rights renewal, could do worse than open up a conversation with Cargo Carriers.

Distributed by : TerraNova Strategic PRContact : Vanessa CusensTelephone : 011 463 5713E-Mail : [email protected]

Level 4 for Cargo CarriersCargo Carriers has increased its BBBEE score from a Level 7 to a Level 4 logistics service provider in only four years, becoming one of SA’s leading empowered logistics companies.

“We have set up and now support a number of owner-driver businesses, and have established several industry-focused and empowered businesses with previously disadvantaged industry participants.”


[email protected]


Bulk Materials Handling specialises in equip-ment for loading, unloading and storing bulk products such as coal, iron ore, lime-stone, wood chips, potash, grain, fertilizer

and a sundry of other bulk materials.

It is an engineering field that is centred on the design of equipment used for the handling of dry materials such as ores, coal, cereals, wood chips, sand, gravel and stone in loose bulk form and can also relate to the handling of mixed wastes.

Bulk material handling systems are typically com-posed of stationary machinery such as convey-or belts, screw conveyors, stackers, reclaimers, bucket elevators, truck dumpers, railcar dump-ers or wagon tipplers, ship loaders, hoppers and diverters and various mobile equipment such as loaders, various shuttles, combined with storage facilities such as stockyards, storage silos or stock-piles. Advanced bulk material handling systems feature integrated bulk storage, conveying, and discharge.

The purpose of a bulk material handling facility is to transport material from one of several locations (thus a source) to an ultimate destination or to process material such as ore in concentrating and smelting or handling materials for manufacturing such as logs, wood chips and sawdust at sawmills and paper mills. Other industries using bulk ma-terials handling include flour mills and coal fired utility boilers.

Providing storage and inventory control and pos-sibly material blending is usually part of a bulk

material handling system.

In ports handling large quantities of bulk materials continuous ship unloaders are replacing gantry cranes.

Feeders are necessary whenever a delivery in uni-form flow of dry or moist fractions of rock and minerals. Generally feeders are categorised by the size of the feed material, apron feeder being the solution to primary application. They are used in a wide range of industries to extract dry, hard abra-sive or wet and sticky material from dump hop-pers, bins and stockpiles. They typically discharge to crushers, scalping equipment and conveyors that require control of the feed rate.

Equilibrated cranes reduces costly dock and infra-structure costs, modular design allows for ease of erection with a 3-4 week erection time reducing erection costs. It has low maintenance require-ments low energy consumption, easily converted from bulk unloading to cargo unloading, lowest cost per ton unloading system and can provide equipment only or complete turnkey unloading systems.

Some of the bulk material handlings include ash handling, car & barge handling, coal preparation, conveyors, conveyor accessories, equilibrated cranes, feeders, loader, marine deck equipment, pelletizing & sintering, railcar dumpers & position-ers, stacking & reclaiming, unloaders and services

Bulk Material Handling


Surface mining includes giant machines such as drills, electrical shovels and giant draglines, some of which have buckets that are capable of mov-ing 160 cubic yards of material in one scoop. Al-though somewhat smaller than the electric shovel or specially the giant dragline, the mass excavator also fits here which is basically a large version of the excavator that is used more for mass exca-vation than for more limited exaction or trench-ing. Underground mining equipment is aimed at moving material in a very headroom and space environment.

An Articulating Truck is a dump truck which has a hinge between the cab and the dump box, and is a vehicle highly adaptable to rough terrain.

Bulldozer: Track Type. The term bulldozer tech-nically refers only to a shovel-like blade, over the years people have come to associate the term bulldozer to the entire vehicle both blade and

crawler tractor combined. Bulldozers are a pow-erful tracked piece of equipment and the tracks give them excellent ground hold and mobility through very rough terrain. Wide tracks help dis-tribute the bulldozer’s weight over a large area (decreasing pressure), thus preventing it from sinking in a sandy or muddy ground.

Wheeled. Many wheel dozers were developed from wheel loaders by fitting a dozer blade in place of the loader arms and bucket the first large rubber-tired dozer suitable for earthmov-ing applications by none other than earthmoving pioneer R.G LeTourneau, beginning in 1947. He developed four sizes known as the Models A, B, C and Tounadozers.

Cable/Hammer Tractor. It is a machine used for pulling cables which either can be an electrical ca-ble for a mine shovel or wire ropes during a shovel rope change.

Mining is the extraction of valu-able minerals or other geologi-cal materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or (coal)

seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining in-clude base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock salt and potash. Any material that cannot be grown through agricul-tural processes, or created artificially in a laboratory or factory, is usually mined. Mining techniques can be divided into two common excavation types: surface min-ing and sub-surface (underground) min-ing. Surface mining is done by removing (stripping) surface vegetation, dirt, and if necessary, layers of bedrock in order to reach buried ore deposits therefore Earth Moving Equipments are required.

Earth Moving Equipment Dragline. A dragline excavator is a piece of equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining. In civil engineering the smaller types are used as pile driving rigs. The larger types are used in strip-mining operations to move overburden above coal, and for tar-sand mining. Draglines amongst the largest mobile equipment ever built on land and weigh in vicinity of 2000 metric tons, though specimens weighing up to 13 000 metric tons have also been constructed.

Drills. The purpose of drilling into a rock is to pro-vide a ‘blast hole’ into which explosives can be loaded and detonated to make the site easier to work in.

Haul Truck: End Dump. Off-road dump trucks are used strictly off-road for mining and heavy dirt hauling jobs. There are two primary forms: rigid frame and articulating frame. The term ‘dump truck’ is not generally used by the mining industry or by the manufactures that build these machines. The more appropriate term for this strictly off road vehicle is “haul truck” and the equivalent Euro-pean term is ‘dumper’. Its classification describes how loaded material is discharged from the dump

body I this case, the load is discharged from the rear.

Centre Dump Haul Units. It is an off-highway hauler that dumps its load through longitudinal gates in the bottom of the dump wagon.

Loaders: Track Loaders. Track loaders area ca-pable in a nearly task, but master of none a dozer, excavator, or wheel loader will outperform a track loader under a set of conditions. The abiltity of a track loader to perform almost every task on a job site is why it remains a part of many company’s fleets.

Wheel Loaders. A loader is a machine often used in construction, primarily used to load loose ma-terial (dirt, snow, feed, gravel and logs) into or onto another type of machine such as a dump truck, conveyor belt, feed-hopper or railcar.

Motor Grader (Mining size CAT 24H). A grader also commonly referred to as a raod grader, a blade, a maintainer or a motor grader is a ma-chine with a long blade used to create a flat sur-face. Graders are commonly used in the construc-tion and maintenance of dirt roads and gravel

roads. In the construction of paved roads they are used to prepare the base course to create a wide flat surface for the asphalt to be placed on. In civil engineering, the graders purpose is to ‘finish grade’ (refine, set precisely) the ‘rough grading’ performed by heavy equipment o reengineering vehicles such as scrapers and bulldozers.

Mass Excavator. Mass Excavators are massively built to allow the use of the largest buckets in the industry by weight class. These attachments are stoutly built for power not reach. The machines are specifically designed for quickly loading trucks with the fewest passes.

Scraper. There are large motorized machines used for digging, hauling and levelling out mate-rials in a variety of construction jobs. Running on massive rubber tires, motorized scrapers quickly move large quantities of earth around a construc-tion site unlike the less popular pull-type scraper.

Single-engine wheeled; a standard motor scraper comprising of a bowl, an apron to drop down over a load of material in order to retain it and an ejector to hydraulically push out the load. Due to its hydraulic system, these components


can all function independently.

Dual-engine wheeled; scrapers can be very ef-ficient on short hauls where the cut-and fill areas are close together and have sufficient length to fill the hopper. The heavier scraper types have two engines (‘tandem powered’), one driving the front wheels and one driving the rearwheels.

Elevating. Instead of an apron, these scrapers include a hydraulically- or electrically- driven el-evator made of two chains equipped with a se-ries of crossbars. The elevators’ purpose is to aid in loading material into the scrapers’ elevating bowl. Dumping material is achieved by sliding the floor of the bowl backwards; the elevator can be reversed in order to assist in dumping the load evenly.

Pull Type. Pull scrapers are able to move in soft, wet soils as well as sand. Unlike the motor scraper, pull scrapers are not motorised and must there-fore be pulled by another vehicle.

Shovel: A shovel is used for digging and loading

earth or fragmented road and for mineral extrac-tion

Electric. An electric mining shovel is a bucket-equipped machine consisting of a deck with a power plant, tracks, a counterweight and a front attachment such as a boom. The digging phase consists of crowding the dipper into the bank, hoisting the dipper to fill then, retracting the full dipper from the bank the swinging phase occurs once the dipper is clear of the bank both vertically and horizontally. The operator controls the dipper through a planned swing path and a dump height until it s suitably positioned over the haul unit like a truck. Dumping involves opening the dipper door to dump the load while maintain the correct dump height. Returning is when the dipper swings back to the bank and involves lowering the dipper in the tuck position to close the dipper door.

Hydraulic. The hydraulic mining shovel has been widely used for coal and rock loading since the 1970s. Its hydraulic system of power transmission greatly simplifies the power train, eliminates a number of mechanical components that are pre-

sent in the shovel.

Underground Mining: Continuous Miner. A machine with a large rotating steel drum equipped with tungsten carbide teeth that scrape coal from the seam. Operating in a ‘room and pil-lar ’ system-where the mine is divided into a series of 20-to-30 foot ‘rooms’ or work areas cut into the coal bed and it can mine as much as five tons of coal a minute-more than a miner of the 1920s would produce in an entire day.

Personnel Carrier. Personnel vehicles are used to transport miners and equipment from the surface of the mine to the underground working loca-tions.

Scaler. Scaling is a key part in the mining cycle and it is the taking down of loose material from the roof, face and rib in hard rock mining.

Scissor Lift. These are used as a safe way for workers in underground and surface operations to reach elevated work.

Scooptram. It is a rubber tired, battery or diesel-operated piece of equipment for cleaning run-ways and hauling supplies.

Shotcreter is a mechanised shotcrete spraying system developed specifically for underground support applications. Shotcrete is concrete (or sometimes mortar) conveyed through a hose and pneumatically projected at high velocity onto sur-face as a construction technique. Shortcrete un-dergoes placement and compaction at the same time due to the force with which it is projected from the nozzle. It can be impacted onto any type or shape of surface, including vertical or overhead areas.

Shuttle Car. In room-and-pillar systems, electri-cal-powered, rubber-tired vehicles called shuttle cars haul coal from the face to the intermediate haulage system.

Transmixer sprays concrete in underground mines.


Mineral exploration is the process of finding ore (commercially viable concentrations of mineral) to mine. Mineral exploration is much more intensive, organised and professional form of mineral pro-cessing and though it frequently uses the services

of prospecting the process of mineral exploration on the whole is much more involved.

Mineral exploration methods vary at different stages of the process depending on size of the area being explored, as well as the density and

type of information sought. Aside from extra plan-etary exploration, at the largest scale is a geologi-cal mineral Province which may be sub-divided into Regions. At the smaller scale are mineral Prospects, which may contain several mineral De-posits.

Area selection is a crucial step in professional min-eral exploration. Selection of the best, most pro-spective, area in a mineral field, geological region or terrain will assist in making it not only possi-ble to find ore deposits, but to find them easily, cheaply and quickly.

This is based on applying the theories behind ore genesis the knowledge of known ore occur-rences and the method of their formation, to known geological regions via the study of geo-logical maps, to determine potential areas where the particular class of ore deposit being sought may exist. Oftentimes new styles of deposits may be found which reveal opportunities to find look-alike deposit styles in rocks and terrains previously thought barren, which may result in a process of pegging of leases in similar geological settings based on this new model or methodology.

The process applies the disciplines of basin mod-eling, structural geology, geochronology, petrol-ogy and a host of geophysical and geochemical disciplines to make predictions and draw parallels between the known ore deposits and their physi-cal form and the unknown potential of finding a 'lookalike' within the area selected.

Mineral Exploration

Area selection is also influenced by the commodity being sought; exploring for gold occurs in a different manner and within different rocks and areas to exploration for oil or natural gas or iron ore. Areas which are prospective for gold may not be prospective for other metals and commodities.

It (Area selection) may also be influenced by previous finds, a practice affectionately named subsurface control or nearology, and may also be determined in part by financial and taxation incentives and tariff systems of individual nations. The role of infrastructure may also be crucial in area selection, because the ore must be brought to market and infrastructure costs may render isolated ore uneconomic.

The ultimate result of an area selection process is the pegging or notification of exploration licenses, known as tenements. Any area selected for mineral exploration also carries various forms of sovereign and other associated risks; that is, the risk that even if a commercially viable deposit is present, political, environmental and social factors may make the discovery and development of the mineral resource inviable.

Target Generation-Regional Scale The target generation phase involves investigations of the geology via mapping, geophysics and conducting geochemical or intensive geophysical testing of the surface and subsurface geology. In some cases, for instance in areas covered by soil, al-luvium and platform cover, drilling may be performed directly as a mechanism for generating targets.

Geophysical methodGeophysical instruments play a large role in gathering geological data which is used in mineral exploration. Instruments are used in geophysical surveys to check for variations in gravity, magnetism, electromagnetism (resistivity of rocks) and a num-ber of different other variables in a certain area. The most effective and widespread method of gathering geophysical data is through flying airborne geophysics.

Remote sensingAerial photography is an important tool in assessing mineral exploration tenements, as it gives the explorer orientation infor-mation - location of tracks, roads, fences, habitation, as well as ability to at least qualitatively map outcrops and regolith ( a layer of loose, heterogeneous material covering solid rock) systematic and vegetation cover across a region.

Regional geochemical exploration has traditionally involved use of stream sediments to target potentially mineralised catch-ments. Regional surveys may use low sampling densities such as one sample per 100 square kilometers. Follow-up geochemi-cal surveys commonly use soils as the sampling media, possibly via the collection of a grid of samples over the tenement or areas which are amenable to soil geochemistry.

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