Technology: surface mining
Cutting, crushing and loading of rock in a single operation
WIRTGEN expertise in advanced cutting technology makes it possible to mine mineral deposits without drilling or blasting. By eliminating the need for drilling and blasting, the selective cutting process generates verifiably less dust and noise emissions than conventional mining and quarrying methods.
Learn more about the process and the technical components of Surface Miner technology. Find out more about the state-of-the-art cutting technology and new ways of exploiting mineral resources.
This is how a state-of-the-art Surface Miner works
As the Surface Miner moves forward, a special cutting drum rotates against the direction of travel, cutting layers of material from the rock formations and crushing it in the process. The primary conveyor picks up the extracted material from the cutting drum housing and transports it towards the rear of the machine, where it is then accepted by the slewing and height-adjustable discharge conveyor. From there, the material is loaded into trucks or mine dumpers or discharged alongside the machine. The discharge height can be adjusted to match the size of the available transport equipment. The surface miner is driven by four steerable and height-adjustable crawler units. An automatic levelling system ensures that the machine maintains the exact cutting depth. This allows even thin seams or layers to be selectively extracted with maximum precision.
Discharge conveyor
Counterweight
Operator's cabin
Track units
Cutting drum
Access
Safety equipment
Tooling
Power unit with diesel engine
The benefits of our mining fleet
Surface Miner are just one link in a process chain, but they have a major impact on the entire process – especially the end result. This innovative process stands out due to the following key features:
Cut, crush and load in a single operation
The mined material is cut, crushed and, if required, directly loaded in a single operation. Conventional primary crushing of the mineral material in an additional process step is no longer necessary. This makes Surface Miners a significantly more cost-efficient solution than conventional drilling and blasting processes with subsequent material loading.
Selective mining
Surface Miners selectively mine primary resources, achieving a high degree of purity and maximising exploitation of deposits. The selective extraction process significantly reduces the amount of equipment, personnel, time and overburden volumes – and the investment costs are also is also significantly lower.
Eliminate blasting and create stable surfaces
Stringent environmental regulations governing noise and dust emissions make vibration-free surface mining an attractive alternative to drilling and blasting. The stable, precise, even surfaces created during mining and soil and rock construction can be directly used as road surfaces, tunnel floors or embankments.
Efficient material extraction
We not only develop innovative machines of exceptional quality. Our ongoing goal is the reduction of both emissions and other impacts resulting from machine operation. A prime example of this is a WIRTGEN Surface Miner: It unites cutting, crushing and loading of mineral resources in a single, continuous process. The tremendous advantage of the selective mining method is that vibration-free material extraction without drilling and blasting produces very little dust and noise. At the same time, the characteristic processes of this method also allow the extraction of mineral resources in the immediate vicinity of communities. When using the selecting mining method, the area required to extract high-quality material is much smaller than with conventional methods. Our fuel-efficient, intelligently-controlled engines fulfil all currently applivcable exhaust emission standards.
WIRTGEN is the world market-leader in the manufacturing of machines for cutting extraction of mineral resources in open-cast mines and quarries. WIRTGEN Surface Miners extract primary resources such as coal, gypsum, iron ore, rock salt, phosphates, bauxite, limestone or granite in exceptional purity. They are also increasingly being used as the primary extraction equipment in newly developed open-cast mining areas and in open-cast mine extensions.
