EQUIPMENT MINERS WANT

Mine equipment manufacturers are continually bombarded with ideas for innovative mining machines. The flow of ideas combined with new computer technology makes the possibilities for new equipment limitless. In the past three years, for example, mine operators in Canada have seen the introduction of a shaft-boring machine, a hardrock tunnel-boring machine, fully-automated hydraulic drilling jumbos, a continuous hardrock mucking machine, a belt-bending machine, portable crushers and an automated cable-bolting machine. Some of these machines have been marketed successfully and some have not.

In the months and years ahead many more new machines will become available to mine operators — a 70-ton, unmanned, electric trolley truck; self-monitoring in-the-hole drills; self-monitoring scoop trams with on-board computers for maintenance diagnosis and a remote control roof-bolter and screening machine, to name just a few.

But before time, money or technical resources are allocated by management to projects such as these, manufacturers want to know if there is a market for the proposed machines — if there is a real need for the machines in the industry — and who the buyers will be.

A project undertaken last year by Quebec’s Centre for Mineral Resources and Mineral Technology (part of the provinces’s Ministry of Energy and Resources) helps answer these questions about the Quebec mine machinery market. According to Jean-Marc Robert at the Quebec government, the object was to find out precisely what the mine equipment needs in that province were and to find ways to meet them.

The results of the study, which keyed in on small, hardrock mines, can perhaps be extrapolated to represent the opinion of the whole industry.

Half of the 46 mines visited in the Quebec study are vein-type orebodies and the vast majority (65%) use one of three mining methods — cut-and-fill, long-hole open-stoping or shrinkage- stoping.

Mining method and the form of the orebody are the two main factors which influence the purchase of a given type of equipment, the survey found. Some 15% of mine operators in Quebec admit they chose the wrong mining method from the start and consequently selected the wrong equipment.

So how does the purchasing decision unfold?

“We have observed that, in most cases, purchase proposals come from underground superintendents and that the decision to buy is taken jointly by the latter, the chief engineer and the mine operators,” Robert says.

Most of the mines surveyed (56%) use light track equipment, mainly because it is inexpensive, parts are easily available and its use holds few unpleasant surprises. But operators say there are many drawbacks and limitations to light-track haulage equipment. The equipment is not very mobile or flexible and the maximum incline on which the equipment can operate is too low, they say. When light track equipment breaks down, ore production on that particular level stops. When locomotives are working, it’s often too slow.

Trackless equipment also has its shortcomings. Not only is it too bulky, but it is very expensive to purchase and service. Repairs are complex and require skilled workers. A large supply of parts that are difficult to obtain must be kept in stock. Furthermore trackless equipment is not sufficiently aut omated and wears out rapidly. Transportation capacity should be increased, the respondants say, without also increasing the size of the equipment.

Operators of vein-type mines pointed out there is an insufficient variety in the choice of light equipment for all types of narrow-vein mining such as locomotives, loading, hauling and drilling equipment.

When operators can not find what they want on the market, they usually modify existing equipment to meet their needs. These modifications include everything from the reinforcement of individual machine parts to changing and improving existing lubrication sytems.

When it comes to thinking about future mine equipment, mine operators have some definite preferences. For vein-type orebodies, new miniloaders and long-hole mini-drills that are light enough to be transported underground in a cage are needed. In the next 2-3 years operators would like equipment innovation to focus on improvements, modifications, electrification and development of remote controls for machinery in order to reduce the physical effort required by operators. Widespread electrification would require the development of new, more powerful and durable batteries.

In the next 3-6 years operators would like to see more automation and more sophisticated improvements such as the remote control of equipment beyond the view of the operator. In the long run (more than six years), operators expect to see truly robotic machinery (re-programmable) and equipment which would allow the processing of ore underground. Most Quebec mine operators think technological change should advance either more rapidly or much more rapidly. To facilitate this, they are (not surprisingly) strongly in favor of having machines tested in their mines.

What’s needed now is for the manufacturers to be convinced that the market for an idea is large enough to justify investing the time, money and resources in developing a new piece of equipment. With close to 300 underground and open pit mines, Canada is one of the three biggest markets for mine machinery in the world.