Tag Archives: Mobile Miner

Epiroc ditches Mobile Miner concept line, working with partners on exiting projects

Mining equipment, Mining techniques, , ,

Epiroc has decided to phase out its Mobile Miner concept line within 2024, 14 years after the company (under Atlas Copco) initiated it.

The Mobile Miner concept line was developed and demonstrated in close partnership between Epiroc and selected partners, including Anglo American. Upon launch, Epiroc invested in the development of three units: the 22H, 40V and 55V. In the years that have passed, this has been refined into a two-product family, the 22H and 40V – both of which have been designed for specific mining methods and constraints.

These Mobile Miners, which leverage undercutting technology, consist of two major parts: the rear “power unit” and the front “miner”. The miner incorporates the cutterhead and everything needed to excavate ore; the power unit contains all the motors, pumps, ground support and control systems. Each unit is roughly 10 m in length, with the two parts connected by an articulation joint to improve manoeuvrability for negotiation of tight corners as well as minimise vibration in the operator’s cab.

The largest Mobile Miner is the 40V, which is typically used in small-to-medium-sized tunnels and cut-and-fill mining requiring 4 m x 4 m advances. The V indicates the cutter head is placed vertically – as opposed to the H of the 22H, placed horizontally – with the stated advance rate of the machine being 10-15 m/d depending on the rock type.

Reminiscent of a traditional TBM, the first 40V was scheduled to be deployed at Hecla Mining’s Lucky Friday mine in Idaho, USA, after extensive work by both Hecla and Epiroc to tailor the machine to the veins that would be mined at the seismically active operation. The successful application of a new mining method – Underhand Closed Bench – at the mine recently led to Hecla deciding against the machine’s use at Lucky Friday.

The 22H – with certain adaptations – was previously tested at the Twickenham PGM mine in Limpopo Province, South Africa, where it advanced at over 10 m/d in 140-150 MPa UCS rock in a trial that was curtailed due to the mine being placed on care and maintenance. It is designed for low-seam or low-profile mining where tunnels as low as 2.2 m are required.

Rickard Johansson, Vice President Marketing for Epiroc’s Underground division, said of the company’s decision to phase out the Mobile Miners: “We continuously evaluate our portfolio to ensure we maintain a healthy, profitable and competitive offering for our customers. We are committed to continue work closely with our partners during the phase-out period.”

The OEM says it will phase out the Mobile Miner concept line within 2024 and will work closely with its partners in exiting ongoing projects.

Element Six synthetic diamond will help hard rock cutting achieve true potential

Diamond mining, Explosives and blasting, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Element Six, as a company, was set up to harness the unique properties of synthetic diamond (polycrystalline diamond or PCD) and tungsten carbide to deliver supermaterials that improve the efficiency, performance and reliability of industrial tools and technology, including in mining.

IM recently met with Element Six (E6) Global Sales Director, Mining, Road & WP, Markus Bening, to better understand what this means for the mining industry and what progress has been made.

It is worth remembering that the company while focussing on advanced materials also has a unique position in the industry, with diamond mining major De Beers Group the 100% owner of the technologies part of the business, and De Beers Group, itself, part of global mining company Anglo American. Some of the industry’s leading hard rock cutting technologies are already being used by these operators, at Anglo’s Twickenham platinum mine, for example. E6 also has all the required raw material sourcing and manufacturing capability such as advanced high pressure/high temperature presses in house to allow it to supply PCD solutions in the quality, consistency and quantity that will be needed to the mining global market.

In mining one of the most interesting markets is hard rock cutting, where the potential for Element Six materials is enormous in rock tools. In relevant ASTM tests such as B611-13, PCD performs up to 500 or 650 times better than tungsten carbide. Of course it has a significant price premium but its performance far, far outweighs this price gap. Bening stated: “PCD is a supermaterial so has a higher price but massive advantages in performance that come with it.”

 

 

 

 

 

Due to confidentiality agreements, Bening would not specify which OEMs are trialling PCD in the hard rock cutting space but confirmed that E6 is working on PCD prototype testing and trials with several leading players and has achieved impressive results.

Taking a hard rock cutting unit, E6 can supply the PCD material on its own, the whole component, the pick or the disc cutter, whatever the customer wants, but primarily E6 is a materials expert.

Bening told IM: “Today there is a lot of advanced testing and fine tuning using our PCD in the cutting tools of the latest hard rock cutting mining machines. In the next five to ten years I see continuous hard rock cutting going commercial throughout the mining industry and E6’s PCD technology will undoubtedly form an important part of that.”

As previously published by IM, major developers of continuous hard rock cutting machines for mining include Epiroc (Mobile Miner), Sandvik (MX650), Caterpillar (Rock Header/Rock Straight) and Komatsu (DynaCut).

And hard rock cutting is not the only mining focus. PCD also has potential in down the hole (DTH) drilling where Percussive Diamond Inserts are used on the bits, and again advanced trials are ongoing with the main global manufacturers of drill bits, with a lot of success so far. PCD means a lot of energy savings in bit use, and bits keeping their shape much longer meaning no regrinding is needed.