Mine Haulage - A Challenge for The Transportation Industry

In any mining operations, transportation of minerals and heavy loads from the mines to their destination has always played a vital role. In the past years, many technological improvements and advances have occurred in the industry of mine Haulage, both the performance of the transportation operation and its cost being overall improved. Mineral transportation has always posed a challenge since the transportation system cannot be standardized because of geological events happening in mining areas. The most common form of civil mine Haulage has been the transportation of minerals using truck Haulage systems. Another system which has been commonly used in the past years is the conveyor system.  Because of their limited load capacity, another system was designed: the pipeline system.

In the following lines we will take a closer look at the most commonly used systems in mineral transportation that are used today.

We’ll begin with the transfer of minerals using the capsule pipeline system. Even though the pipeline system is a rather new technology, there are thousands of kilometers of pipeline crossing through many countries and transporting minerals. But since technology needs to constantly evolve, a new system was developed over the old pipeline system: the capsule pipeline system.

The “Capsule Pipeline Research Center” has been researching basic and advanced applications for the hydraulic and capsule pipeline such as the transportation of solid loads.

The system was first tested by the Sumitomo company. They transported solid limestone using the capsule pipeline system. This system revolutionized the mining Haulage industry. Trains of wheeled capsules were used to transport the limestone through a pipeline at a low air pressure. The system is completely eco-friendly and uses only modern technology. Since everything is controlled using computerized systems there is not much need for any personnel attention. This system eliminates the risk that truck Haulage and conveyors pose, since it doesn’t require much maintenance whatsoever and the minerals are safe during the transportation because any harsh weather conditions will not affect the load in any way.

Truck Haulage has always been the most common way of transporting mineral loads such as coal and ore from a destination to another. The Caterpillar Company manufactures trucks which are used worldwide for transportation of minerals. Truck Haulage though, relies on weather and climate conditions and also geological and topographic occurrences. The Caterpillar company is going to release the largest truck ever constructed, the new model (797), which is said to be able to carry loads of up to 326 metric tons. Truck Haulage performance is dependent not only on the choice of the truck model but also on weather conditions, geological occurrences, the maintenance and the available planning time.

The last type of mineral transportation we are going to feature in this article is transportation using conveyors.

Conveyor transportation is more practical than truck Haulage transportation. One reason is due to the required level of maintenance and replacement of the trucks. During the last few years, the conveyor system advanced radically, allowing the system to work without problems over longer distances and curves. Technological advances have also taken place in the actual design of the conveyor, some of the improvements cover the conveyor belt manufacture design and the support devices. The prevention against surges has also been improved significantly. The conveyor system also requires some maintenance attention like checking the belt and any other moving parts for any damage.

As you’ve read above, the transportation system in the mining industry is always evolving and adapting in order to face any challenges and changes in the industry.