Strip mining, removal of soil and rock (overburden) above a layer or seam (particularly coal), followed by the removal of the exposed mineral. The common strip-mining techniques are classified as area mining or contour mining on the basis of the deposit geometry and type. The cycle of operations for both techniques consists of vegetation clearing, soil removal, drilling and blasting of overburden (if needed), stripping, removal of the coal or other mineral commodity, and reclamation. Area mining is appropriate for the extraction of near-surface, relatively flat-lying, and thin deposits of coal, phosphate, and similar minerals. Area mining usually progresses in a series of parallel deep trenc

Magnetite is a very common iron oxide (Fe3O4) mineral that is found in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. It is the most commonly mined ore of iron. It is also the mineral with the highest iron content (72.4%). Magnetite is very easy to identify. It is one of just a few minerals that are attracted to a common magnet. It is a black, opaque, submetallic to metallic mineral with a Mohs hardness between 5 and 6.5. It is often found in the form of isometric crystals. It is the most strongly magnetic mineral found in nature - "Geology.com"

For those who don't have the software but would like exposure to mine design and scheduling, and fully understand the life of mine cycle. The courses are presented at the university of Pretoria, 1 to 5 October. CPD points also awarded for professionally registered persons. Kindly visit our website for course detail: "www.schoolofrockmining.com/upcoming-course-details"

Orapa diamond mine located 240km west of Francistown city in Central Botswana is the ninth largest diamond mine in the world by reserve. The open-pit mine was estimated to contain 85.7Mct of diamond reserves (146.1Mt grading 0.587ct/t diamond) as of December 2012. Orapa has been in production since 1971. It is the oldest of the four diamond mines operated by Debswana. The kimberlite pipe mined by Orapa is one of the largest in the world. It covers an area of 118km² at the surface. Orapa produced 11.089Mct of diamonds in 2012, compared to 11.158Mct in 2011. Orapa is the world’s biggest diamond mine based on 2012 production. The mine achieved a record production of 17.3Mct in 2006 - Mining Tec

Flotation is the most widely used method for the concentration of fine-grained minerals. It takes advantage of the different physicochemical surface properties of minerals—in particular, their wettability, which can be a natural property or one artificially changed by chemical reagents. By altering the hydrophobic (water-repelling) or hydrophilic (water-attracting) conditions of their surfaces, mineral particles suspended in water can be induced to adhere to air bubbles passing through a flotation cell or to remain in the pulp. The air bubbles pass to the upper surface of the pulp and form a froth, which, together with the attached hydrophobic minerals, can be removed. The tailings, containi

The Cat D10T is currently the eighth largest bulldozer in the world. In 1978, it was the world’s largest, followed by the development of the N, R, and the current T-type. The D10T has a 12-cylinder engine for the Cat C27 ACERT. The D10T is rated at maximum power of 493kW (671 hp) / 1800rpm, and has a working weight of 66 tonnes - Mega Machines.

Longwall mining is a highly productive underground coal mining technique. Longwall mining machines consist of multiple coal shearers mounted on a series of self-advancing hydraulic ceiling supports. The entire process is mechanized. Longwall mining machines are about 800 feet (240 meters) in width and 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 meters) tall. Longwall miners extract "panels" - rectangular blocks of coal as wide as the mining machinery and as long as 12,000 feet (3,650 meters). Massive shearers cut coal from a wall face, which falls onto a conveyor belt for removal. As a longwall miner advances along a panel, the roof behind the miner's path is allowed to collapse - Kentucky Coal Education.

Hematite is one of the most abundant minerals on Earth's surface and in the shallow crust. It is an iron oxide with a chemical composition of Fe2O3. It is a common rock-forming mineral found in sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks at locations throughout the world. Hematite is the most important ore of iron. Although it was once mined at thousands of locations around the world, today almost all of the production comes from a few dozen large deposits where significant equipment investments allow companies to efficiently mine and process the ore. Most ore is now produced in China, Australia, Brazil, India, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, Canada, Venezuela, and the United States. Hematite

Botuobinskaya diamond mine, the tenth biggest diamond mine in the world, is located in the Nakyn kimberlite field, around 200km north-west of Nyurba in the Yakutia region of Russia. The mine extracts from the Botuobinskaya pipe, which contains 70.9Mct of JORC-compliant diamond reserves (13.839Mt grading 5.13ct/t diamond). The mine is owned and operated by Nyurba mining and processing division of Alrosa. Alrosa’s Nyurba division has been mining the Nyurbinskaya pipe three kilometres away from the Botuobinskaya pipe since 2000. The JORC reserve of Nyurbinskaya (Nyurba) open-pit mine was estimated at 40.394Mct as of July 2013. Nyurba mine produced 7.955Mct of diamond in 2012. Striping operation

For those who don't have the software but would like exposure to mine design and scheduling, and fully understand the life of mine cycle. The courses are presented at the university of Pretoria, 1 to 5 October. CPD points also awarded for professionally registered persons. Kindly visit our website for course detail: https://www.schoolofrockmining.com/upcoming-course-details

Gravity methods use the difference in the density of minerals as the concentrating agent. In heavy-media separation (also called sink-and-float separation), the medium used is a suspension in water of a finely ground heavy mineral (such as magnetite or arsenopyrite) or technical product (such as ferrosilicon). Such a suspension can simulate a fluid with a higher density than water. When ground ores are fed into the suspension, the gangue particles, having a lower density, tend to float and are removed as tailings, whereas the particles of valuable minerals, having higher density, sink and are also removed. The magnetite or ferrosilicon can be removed from the tailings by magnetic separation

The D375A-6 has a displacement of 23 liters and uses KOMATSU's SAA6D170E-3 engine. It has a fuel tank of 1200 litres, and a maximum speed 15.8 km/h. The maximum power rating is 474kW (645 hp)/1800rpm, and the working weight is 72 tonnes - Mega Machines.

The D9812 is one of three cylinder variants of the Liebherr D98 series. Thanks to its intelligent modular system, this V-12 engine perfectly fits to mining applications such as excavators or mining trucks. Moreover, it can be applied in others applications like railway or applications in the oil & gas industry. Its displacement is 62 liters, max power rating of 2700kW, and max torque of 15,690Nm - Liebherr.

Block caving is essentially the underground version of open-pit mining. It’s the only underground mining method that can reach similar production rates to surface mining operations, up to over 100,000 tonnes per day. The method involves undermining an ore body, then allowing it to collapse under its own weight. The ore body is drilled and blasted and the collapsed ore is removed through a haulage access, and as more material is removed the ore body caves in. This mining method is useful because it allows for huge volumes of material to be mined at relatively low costs, which makes lower grade deposits economical to turn into mines or new pits. Many large-scale open-pit operations have plans

Many people are surprised to learn that bauxite is not a mineral. It is a rock composed mainly of aluminum-bearing minerals. It forms when laterite soils are severely leached of silica and other soluble materials in a wet tropical or subtropical climate. Bauxite is the primary ore of aluminum. Almost all of the aluminum that has ever been produced has been extracted from bauxite. The United States has a few small bauxite deposits but at least 99% of the bauxite used in the United States is imported. The United States is also a major importer of aluminum metal. Bauxite does not have a specific composition. It is a mixture of hydrous aluminum oxides, aluminum hydroxides, clay minerals, and ins

AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng gold mine, located south-west of Johannesburg in South Africa, is currently the deepest mine in the world. The operating depth at Mponeng mine ranged from between 2.4km to more than 3.9km below the surface by the end of 2012. Ongoing expansions have resulted in deeper digging at Mponeng, pushing the record to beyond the four kilometre mark. The ore reserve at Mponeng stood at 13.7 million ounces (Moz) as of December 2012. The mine produced 405,000oz of gold in 2012. It is currently undergoing expansion to extend the mine life beyond 2040. Mponeng extracts the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR) of the West Wits region of South Africa. The deep underground mine employs

For those who don't have the software but would like exposure to mine design and scheduling, and fully understand the life of mine cycle. The courses are presented at the university of Pretoria, 1 to 5 October. CPD points also awarded for professionally registered persons. Kindly visit our website for course detail: https://www.schoolofrockmining.com/upcoming-course-details

For every tonne of ore that is mined, only a very small amount (about 5 g) of gold is extracted. A number of different methods can be used to separate gold from its ore, but one of the more common methods is called gold cyanidation. In the process of gold cyanidation, the ore is crushed and then cyanide (CN−) solution is added so that the gold particles are chemically separated from the ore. In this stage of the process, gold is oxidised. Zinc dust is then added to the cyanide solution. The zinc then takes the place of the gold, so that the gold is precipitated out of the solution - Siyavula.

This dozer is the world's ninth most powerful bull dozer. After the Italian joint venture in 1974, Fiat-Allis 41B Dozer launched later in 1982, and improved to the FD50. The FD50 was equipped with a Cummins VT28-C engine, but due to market reasons the Fiat-Allis FD50 stopped production in 1989. The FD50 Main technical data: * Maximum Power: 600 hp * Working Weight: 80 tons - Mega Machine.

The mining engineers of Modular Mining Systems Africa completed RPMGlobal's Open Pit and Surface Coal training course this week. Their requirement was to better understand the mine planning processes as a whole, with specific focus on the shorter term elements as they want to improve their service delivery and interaction with their customers using their fleet management systems. Well done to these gentlemen! #design #planning #mining #engineers