Pit & Quarry, September 2016

CUTTING DOWN ON EXPLOSIVES INTEREST IN SURFACE MINING MACHINES FOR QUARRIES GROWS ALONG WITH DRILL AND BLAST REGULATIONS Because those products are mostly used as building materials the goal usually is to locate quarries near where road and other construction projects occur This is typically in urban areas And that is becoming an even bigger pain for mining companies because a major trend in the industry worldwide is increasing regulations on drilling and blasting methods due to environmental and safety concerns especially in populated areas More and more quarries are turning to surface excavation machines as a solution They have numerous advantages over drilling and blasting THEY can be used in parts of surface mines that explosives cannot THEY cause less noise dust and vibration THEY cut more precisely THEY produce a smaller more consistent particle size THEY can take steps and equipment out of the mining process THEY can also be used for site preparation and haul road construction As a surface excavation machine moves on its tracks its cutting drum rotates and the teeth on the drum mechanically excavate material To give an example the Vermeer T1255 Terrain Leveler surface excavation machine SEM has IF YOU ASK PEOPLE WHO RUN QUARRIES WHAT THEIR BIGGEST PAIN POINT IS THEYRE LIKELY TO SAY TRANSPORTING THEIR PRODUCT ITS EXPENSIVE AND LOGISTICALLY CHALLENGING a 600 horsepower 447 kW engine and can cut a swath up to 27 inches 686 cm deep and 12 feet 37 m wide in a single pass It can be equipped with an optional GPS for precision cutting allowing an operator to use the full length of the drum and minimize the overlap with each pass Additionally a survey can be taken of a quarry to create a fl itch plan which can be uploaded to a computer on the machine Mining companies are benefi tting from these features Theres a Vermeer customer that chose not to use a primary crusher because its Terrain Leveler SEM could consistently produce a 6 inch 152 cm minus particle size Another customer had a million tons of mineable product but could no longer drill and blast because of nearby pipelines powerlines and roads The surface excavation machine is getting that last remaining bit of aggregate says Patrick Robinson senior commercialization manager for mining at Vermeer The site is already permitted but if not for the surface excavation machine it would probably be abandoned because drill and blast is no longer an option It may go without saying but surface excavation machines are quieter and create less vibration than explosives As for dust suppression the Vermeer Terrain Leveler SEM offers an optional traditional water spray bar or an optional dust collection system that uses vacuum technology instead of spraying The smaller consistently sized product wastes less space than the larger material from drilling and blasting which may allow more material to fi t into haul trucks and loaders or possibly allow for the downsizing of equipment which in turn can lower expenses A surface excavation machine also could potentially let a quarry get to market faster The infrastructure and planning needed for drill and blast conveyer systems purchasing and setting up large pieces of equipment like primary crushers permits can take years Many of the mining companies interested in surface excavation machines usually are forward thinking in terms of how they adopt technology their processes and their process control Robinson says Visit Vermeer at Booth 8401 at MINExpo Vermeer the Vermeer logo Equipped to Do More and Terrain Leveler are trademarks of Vermeer Manufacturing Company in the U S and or other countries 2016 Vermeer Corporation All Rights Reserved