Lecture 4
MINE LOADING AND TRANSPORTATION
Introduction
Once the rock has been fragmented it needs to be moved to
its final destination which could be a waste rock muck pile
or ore’s stock pile to feed the processing plant.
From the working face materials are loaded with the use of
any of the mucking units into a conveyance which carries it
through horizontal, inclined, vertical or combination of
both horizontal and vertical routes to the discharge point
Movement of the muck through a horizontal or slightly
inclined path is known as haulage and through the steeply
inclined to vertical path (up or down) as hoisting
Haulage system
This can be described under two headings – track and
trackless.
Track haulage includes rope and locomotive haulage,
which runs on rail or track.
Trackless systems includes automobile (e.g. trucks),
conveyors and transportation through pipes.
Load and haul
• In mining, load and haul is necessary for
movement of ore and waste from the face to
stockpiles or processing plant
• There are differences in methods applied
depending on the mining method,
topography, flexibility and distance from the
face to material destination.
Selection of load and haul equipment
Loading equipment
• Material characteristics of the mine
• Capacity
• Equipment operating time/life of equipment
• Cost
Haulage equipment
• Haul route requirements
• Maneuvering space
• Dumping conditions
• Engine power and altitude limitations
• Axle configuration
• Mechanical or electrical drive system
Load and haul terminologies
• Capacity -refers to the volume of material that a
loading or haulage unit can hold at any point in time
e.g. volume of loading machine bucket or truck tray.
• Struck Capacity; Volume of material that a loading
or haulage is filled to the top with no additional
material above the sides or carried on any external
attachments such as bucket teeth.
• Heaped Capacity; Maximum volume of material that
a loading or haulage unit can handle without spillage
based on material angle of repose.
• Bank cubic meters (BCM) – is the volume of the in-
situ/unbroken rock.
• Loose cubic meters (LCM) is the rated capacity of
bucket carrying loose/fragmented material
• Swell factor – is the factor by which fragmented
material swell/expand from its insitu condition.
LCM
Swell factor
BCM
• Bucket fill factor - percent of available volume in
bucket that is actually filled with material
Surface load and haul
There are common systems used in modern mining
operations to extract, load and haul waste and ore. They
include;
• Dragline systems
• Loader and hauler systems
• Bucket-wheel excavator systems
• In-pit crushing and conveying system
Draglines
• Draglines are used most frequently in waste stripping to cast
material directly because they have higher bucket capacities
and greater reach abilities than other excavation equipment
• The largest dragline can have up to 170m3 bucket, 122m boom
length and weigh 12,700t. Buckets are capable of moving 30–
35 million BCM per year.
Dragline selection
The parameters used in the analysis are
• ß = High wall slope with the
horizontal in degrees
• θ = Spoil pile slope with the
horizontal in degrees
• D = Overburden depth,
• OR = Dragline operating radius
• P = Dragline positioning,
• RF = Dragline reach factor
• S = Spoil pile swell factor,
expressed as a decimal
• W = Pit width
• h = Height of the spoil pile peak
above the top surface of the coal
• T = Coal thickness
The two major parameters used to select a dragline are
dump/operating radius and allowable load
D(1 S ) W D
Reach factor RF
tan 4 tan
Operating radius OR P RF
RF D cot
Height of spoil h T
cot
Stacking height Hs h D
Example
Given the coal mine has a high-wall angle of 71.5 degrees, spoil
pile angle of 38.7 degrees and overburden height of 27m. If the
material swell factor is 25%, pit width is 37m and coal thickness
2m; calculate dragline reach factor and height of the spoil
D(1 S ) W D
RF
tan 4 tan
27(1 0.25) 37 27
RF 60.3m
tan 38.7 4 tan 71.6
1
60.3 27 2
RF D cot T tan 71.6
h 39.5m
cot 1
tan 38.7
Loader and hauler system
More material is moved by loaders and truck haulers
than by all other excavation systems combined. They
are mostly preferred due to their flexibility. There are
three different types of loaders used in mining industry;
• Wheel loader: 27–45 t
• Hydraulic shovel: 27–81 t
• Mining shovel: 54–110 t
Wheel loader
Hydraulic shovel
Mining shovel
Bucket size selection
• The amount of material in the bucket depends on size and
shape of the bucket, digging force and rock characteristics.
• Size of the bucket can be calculated when production per hour
is known as follows;
P T
Q
3600 BF U A
• Where Q is the bucket capacity, P is the required production
(LCM per hour), T is cycle time, BF is the bucket fill factor, U
is utilization, and A is the mechanical availability expected
over the period of operation.
Sample calculation
Given that the annual production of coal required in one mine is 40 million
BCM. The mine is planning to operate two shovels of the same size to attain
the required production. Select the bucket size for each shovel given the
following information.
• Estimated Work Cycle = 52 seconds
• Operating days a year = 350
• Operating time/day =20hrs
• Swell factor = 1.2
• Dipper/bucket Fill Factor = 0.8
• Availability and utilization = 0.9
Note:
Average Bucket Payload = Heaped Bucket Capacity x Bucket Fill Factor
40000000 1.2
production / hr 6857m3
350 20
P T 6857 52
Q
3600 BF U A 3600 0.8 0.9 0.9
Q 152m 3
Bucket wheel excavators (BWE).
• This is one of the continuous operating excavator, others are
chain bucket excavators etc.
• The BWE digs with a series of evenly spaced buckets attached
to the circular wheel at one end of the unit.
• The excavated material is fed via a transfer point in the wheel
to the belt conveyor system of the excavator for discharge.
BWE production calculations
60 F s
Q
Swell factor
where
• Q is the theoretical output in bank cubic meters per hour,
• F is the capacity of each individual bucket,
• s is the number of buckets discharged per minute, and
• swell factor is that of the material being excavated
60 V n
s
D
• Where V is the speed of rotation in m/s, n is number of buckets in
a wheel and D wheel diameter.
Sample calculations
BWE has buckets with capacity of 2m3/bucket. The wheel
has a diameter of 20m with 16 buckets attached to it. If it
rotates at a velocity is 0.5m/s and material swell factor is
1.2, find the production per hour if the speed does not
change.
60 V n 60 0.5 16
s 7.64 buckets / min
D 20
60 F s 60 2 7.64
Q 763m3 / hr
Swell factor 1.2
In pit crushing and conveying system
• Crushing is done in-pit mainly to allow transport of the
material out of the pit by a conveyor system. It is used to
eliminated a problem of high-cost road construction and
maintenance in wet soft ground.
• In pit crushing system ranges from completely mobile to fixed
systems.
Discrete units haulers
• Productivity of mobile equipments like trucks depends on the
its carrying capacity and trips per hour which is a function of
distance travelled, truck power and road conditions.
• Rigid dump trucks are the backbone of haulage equipment for
the worldwide mining industry. They are available primarily
from five global OEMs
Caterpillar, Komatsu,
Bucyrus, Liebherr and
Hitachi, and with capacities
ranging from 36 to 360 t.
Cycle time
• Cycle time of haulage trucks include spotting time at
the loader, loading, hauling, spotting at the dump,
dumping and returning time
• Load time; depends on the cycle time of the loader and
number of passes required to fill the truck
• Haul time; depend on the weight carried, road
conditions, travel distance, total rolling resistance
• Dumping time; maneuvering and dumping, depending
on truck and dumping area conditions; normally 0.6min
• Return time; less than haul time since the equipment is
empty, and opposite of the grade.
Cycle time
Fleet size estimation
• Size of the truck depends on required production and should be
matched to size of loader. Rule of thumb suggests 3 to 5 passes
loading
• Number of trucks is dependent on loading time and production
requirements.
• Fleet size is the number of trucks required to attain production
taking into considerations trucks availability
Capacity of haul unit Cycle time of loader
Loading time
Bucket capacity of loader
Total haulage cycle
Number of required trucks
Spotting time at the loader Loading time
Number of trucks required in production
Fleet size
Availabili ty of a truck
Sample calculation
• Given that cycle time of a loader is 30seconds for a
loader with bucket capacity of 30t. The loader has to
fill a truck of 160t capacity. The distance between the
face to dumping location is 3.5 km and the truck
travels at the speed of 25 km/h when loaded and
40km/hr when empty. If dumping time is 1.0 minute
and trucks have availability of 90%,
i. Calculate the fleet size required to match loader’s
production.
ii. Calculate the production per hour.
160 30
Loading time 2.67min
30 60
3.5 60
travel loaded 8.4min
25
3.5 60
Travel empty 5.25min
40
cycle time 2.67 8.4 1 5.25 17.32
17.32
number trucks 6.5 7
2.67
7
Fleet size 8 trucks
0.9
Production 8 160 1280 t/hr
Underground transportation
load and haul
• One of the common transportation method in
underground is by using loaders and trucks
• Size and capacity of machines depends on the
required production, energy requirements, headings
size, production requirement and working conditions
• They are generally smaller as compared to surface
equipment.
Load Haul and Dump units(LHD)
They are mainly used for underground loading, hauling
and dumping in few (10s) metres to low-profile dumper,
rail or ore-pass
Underground haulers
• There are two kinds of
discrete units; those that
follow a predetermined
path and those that are
free to move in any
direction
• Non-fixed path include
the dump trucks while
those with fixed path
include rail haulage
Theoretical truck productivity
• Theoretical productivity is the tones or cubic meters per
hour produced by an operating unit if no delays were
encountered. This indicates 100% potential, which is
rarely achieved.
60 truck rating
tonnes / hr
cycle time (min)
Locomotive haulage
• Rail transport can be used as gathering and main haulage in the
underground mines and tunnels.
• The locomotive haulage system works on track and is mainly
used as a long distance haulage with gradient ranging from
0.5% to less than 3%
• Good roads, efficient maintenance, large output and adequate
ventilation are the basic requirements for the success of this
system
• The weight of rails varies depending upon the weight of
locomotive and the number of wheels it has (which could be
either four or six). The range is 15–50 kg/m for locomotive
weight that varies from 5 to 100 tons.
• Locomotives can either be electric which uses direct current ,
battery which uses storage batteries, combination of electric
and battery, compressed air and diesel operated
locomotives
• The total force delivered by the motive power of locomotive to
make it move/roll, through the gearing, at wheel treads is
called Tractive effort. This force is the product of locomotive
weight and the coefficient of adhesion between the wheels and
rails
Locomotive calculations
TE RO (WL WT )
a
RO 1000 sin
g
TE V
P
Where;
TE - Total tractive effort in kg
RO= running resistance in kg/t
WL = Weight of locomotive in tons
μ- Frictional resistance in kg/tonne
θ – haul grade angle + for up and – for down
a – acceleration of train in m/sec2 + for acc. and – for retardation
g – acceleration due to gravity, 9.81m/sec2
P= locomotive power , W
V = train velocity in m/s
η = efficiency of the system
Conveyor system
• Belt conveyors have their applications both for
surface as well as underground mines. A belt
conveyor is basically a continuous strap stretched
between two drums
• Conveyors can be used when the production is as
high as 8,000,000tonnes per year, vertical height of
up to 1,200m and gradient of 11%. Conveyors have
efficiency of up to 85%
Conveyor capacity
Hourly production , T abV 3600
Where
T - is hourly production in tons.
a – average cross-section of material loaded
on conveyor, and it is given by W2/10 to
W2/12 depending on type of material
W– is the width of belt in m
b – bulk density of material loaded in t/m3.
V – belt conveyor speed in m/s.
Shaft hoisting system
A shaft hoisting system consists of six major sections,
• A loading station for ore or a service station for workers and
material
• Shaft conveyances called skips for ore transport and cages for
transporting workers and material
• Ropes that suspend the conveyances
• A shaft that connects the underground to the surface and that
is equipped with a system to guide the conveyances as they
move in the shaft
• A head-frame, located on the surface, that supports either the
hoist itself and provides the tipping arrangements for the rock
• A hoist and hoist room
Hoisting components
Two basic types of hoists are commonly used today:
• Drum hoists, in which the hoist rope is stored on a drum.
Drum hoists are usually located some distance from the shaft
and require a headframe and sheaves to center the hoisting
ropes in the shaft compartment and maintain a rope fleeting
angle of less than 2° as shown in Figure below. Drum hoist
consist of
• Single drum hoist
• Divided single drum hoist
• Differential Diameter Drum
• Double-Drum Hoist
• Multiple rope hoist
• Bicylindrical Conical Drum Hoists
Drum hoists
Frictional hoists
• Friction hoists in which the rope passes over the wheel during
the hoisting cycle.
• It consists of a wheel with grooved liner or liners made from a
friction material to resist slippage. The hoist rope is not attached
or stored on the wheel.
• In early installations, the hoist was mounted on the ground, and
a single rope was wound around the drum and over the head
sheaves to the two conveyances in a balanced arrangement. In
addition, a tail rope of the same weight per unit length as the
headrope was suspended in the shaft below each conveyance.
Thus the only out-of-balance load was simply the payload.
Friction hoists can either be a tower mounted or ground
mounted.
Hoist production
Tonnage of ore that can be handled with each skip can be
calculated from
( D / V ) 0.4V 12
SL
3600 / TPH
Where
• SL- tonnage to be handled by each skip
• D- depth in ft
• V- velocity in ft/s
• And TPH is capacity in tons per hour
The equation is based on the assumption that delay is 12 seconds
and acceleration/deceleration rates 2.5ft/s2 (0.3m/s2)
Cycle time of the hoisting system consists of acceleration time ta, constant speed time
tv, retardation time tr and load or dump time td. Thus cycle time t in seconds can be
numerically expressed as:
Cycle time :t t 2(t a tc t r t d )
Accelerati on time : t a V / a
Re tardation time : t r V / r
Accelerati on dis tan ce : ha 0.5at a
2
Re tardation dis tan ce : hr 0.5rtr
2
Where: V – is hoisting speed;
a and r – are the acceleration and retardation rates;
ha– acceleration distance;
hr– retardation distance;
hv– constant velocity distance;
ht– total hoisting distance from loading pocket to head frame bin.
From the cycle time, skip production per hour can be
calculated from
3600 Sc
P
Where Tt
• P= skip production per hour
• Sc = skip capacity
• And Tt = skip cycle time
Ore passes
• Ore-passes provide a low-cost method to move ore and waste
downward between operational horizons in a mine
• Flow of material in the ore-pass is mostly by gravity. Material
movement is critical to success of ore-passes
• Orepass inclination angles are greater than 60° and should
have a small amount of inclination from vertical to allow the
dumped material’s energy to be dissipated on the orepass
footwall and therefore prevent free fall of the material to the
orepass bottom.
• Orepass fingers that connect to chutes can be as low as 50° in
order to reduce the amount of energy transfer from the ore in
the orepass onto the chute
