Mining Operation – Mining is the process of taking mineral and other substances from the earth. These substances include metal compounds, non-minerals such as coal, sand, oil and natural gas and many other useful things. The mining industry consists of five major segments:
coal mining
gas and oil extracting,
metal ore mining,
non-metal mineral mining
supporting activities such as resource transportation
Each segment requires the use of specific equipment, but there are several types of mining equipment that are used throughout the industry. This equipment includes excavators, draglines, drills, roof bolters, continuous miners, longwall miners, rock dusters, shuttle cars and scoops. The mining industry is considered as one of the fastest growing economies all over the world but in particular, the contribution of mining to the country, especially those who export mineral products, are felt intensively.
What are the main methods of mining?
There are four main mining methods: underground, open surface (pit), placer, and in-situ mining.
Underground mines are more expensive and are often used to reach deeper deposits.
Surface mines are typically used for more shallow and less valuable deposits.
Placer mining is used to sift out valuable metals from sediments in river channels, beach sands, or other environments.
In-situ mining, which is primarily used in mining uranium, involves dissolving the mineral resource in place then processing it at the surface without moving rock from the ground.
The method used depends on the type of mineral resource that is mined, its location at or beneath the surface, and whether the resource is worth enough money to justify extracting it. Each mining method also has varying degrees of impact on the surrounding landscape and environment.
benefits of mining in economy
Mining plays a vital role in the economic development of many countries.Mining is a key contributor to the world economy, as well as an engine for regional development and value-add generation.The impact of mining goes beyond mineral extraction and processing. Mining is linked to many other industries and sectors in the economy, including transportation, construction, equipment manufacturing, environmental management, geological services, education and research, among others. The industry provides a major boost to our financial sector.
Minerals impact our lives every day. Along with stimulating economic growth, minerals mining provides the resources that make our cars, roads and bridges, computers, solar panels, medical technology, the equipment our national defense uses to keep us safe and so much more.
Almost every aspect of our modern lives relies on minerals or mineral products, such as base metals, precious metals, coking coal, iron sands, aggregates, limestone and industrial minerals. These are all vital elements used for building and construction, vehicle manufacture and fuel, computers and other electronics, communications, healthcare and dentistry, food production, and energy production and transmission.
Another benefit of mining is that it spurs technological development. We can use some of the safety technologies developed for mining in other industries, such as constructing deep underground subway tunnels, water pipes, and other structures. Some of the heavy equipment developed for mining may also be used in deep excavation projects, such as when we build canals or dig foundations for large buildings. Not only do mines require digging and safety technology, but they also require Earth-moving technology and environmental control systems for managing airflow, water flow, and temperature. All of these technologies have proven to be vital for the growth and safety of our large cities. In addition to creating jobs and new technologies, mining provides us with essential ingredients for everyday items such as cookware and electronic components; we also rely upon mining for the raw materials we need to build cities, ships, automobiles, and other artifacts of technology. Mining is an activity that is complex and requires significant capacity for its proper management. The opportunity mining provides to generate benefits must be used effectively to advance sustainable economic development and reduce poverty.Minerals and metals underpin national economies, provide crucial raw materials for industrial activities, and are inputs to almost every sector of the global economy. Demand for extractive resources will continue to grow on the back of emerging economies with expanding and increasingly affluent and urban populations and a global transition towards low-carbon but metal-intensive energy production technologies. This is despite efforts to decouple economies from resource use and towards greater recycling. As global mineral demand continues to soar, today’s mining machinery needs to be very big and intelligent to keep up.
major of mining jobs
Engineering Jobs – Mining engineering jobs include a few different roles—most commonly, mining engineer, planning engineer, and project engineer (engineer in training). The people involved in this sector often work on designing the mines and mining equipment, both on-site and from an office, employing complex engineering principles, calculations, and theory to find the most efficient, effective ways to deliver what the client is seeking.
Construction Jobs – Mine construction jobs include a construction manager, project manager, project control, project coordinator, estimator, and planner/scheduler. This type of mining job is a more hands-on, practical application of the above-mentioned engineering jobs. Part of the broader “mine development” umbrella of jobs, mine construction is the process of clearing the area, breaking through rock, and putting together scaffolding and other infrastructure to get into the extraction/excavation process.
Exploration Jobs – Mining exploration jobs include vice president, geologist, geo-technician, and hydrogeologist. This type of mining job, one of the first to be done in a given project, involves finding the right place to mine. Much like other resources found in the ground (including oil), valuable minerals are found more in some places than others. Mining exploration entails first gathering information on an area as a means to figure out which parts should be further explored; next, explorers have to legally secure the rights to mine the area; then, scientific procedures are performed to confirm that parts of the area are indeed rich in the minerals sought; if so, these explorers will work to see if it’s economically and environmentally feasible to go forward with a mining project, bridging the gap to the preceding engineering and construction jobs described.
Operations Jobs – Mining operations jobs include vice president, general manager, mine manager, chief mining engineer, and manager of technical service. These roles, less science-based and more work-based, involve planning and structuring to make a mining project work both in the short- and long-term. That includes monitoring working conditions (air quality is a major component of mining), maintaining waste material, and looking after necessary services, including labs and offices.
Metallurgist/Process Jobs – This type of job includes vice president, manager, engineer, superintendent, general foreman foreman, lab supervisors, and lab technicians. Metallurgists, as their name suggests, work with metals; and while the occupation is ancient, its modern form typically involves separating the waste from the valuables in mined deposits. Mining produces a lot of weighty excess, and the processing jobs here, done after a particular excavation, help to refine what’s been found into its most valuable, useful form.
Human Resources Jobs – Human resources jobs include vice president, manager, recruiter, coordinator, and training coordinator. Like any industry, HR in mining is responsible for overarching aspects of employment (such as labour laws), although if you’re a client working via a staffing firm to recruit a mining team, HR’s typical recruitment and dismissal roles won’t need to come into play.
Types of mines
There are two ways to mine a deposit. Some mines are open pit and others are underground. Choosing the mine type depends on a variety of factors such as deposit depth, deposit footprint, and extraction costs.
Deposit depth: If the deposit is closer to the surface, an open pit mine is the preferred option.
Deposit footprint (the visible trace left by the mine): The idea is to minimize the environmental impact. For example, if the mine is in a wildlife sanctuary then an underground mine is preferable.
Extraction costs: An underground mine is the best choice if there is an excessive amount of overburden (or topsoil and waste rock) to remove.
Open pit mines
For an open pit, a spiral hole is dug and 2- to 15-meter benches are formed. These will be dynamited to extract the ore. Then ore is loaded using diggers and transported to a concentrator by huge trucks that can carry hundreds of tons of ore at a time.
Open pit mines are often described as “gigantic” or “massive” due to the impressively large holes and oversized machinery. This is the case with the Mont-Wright open pit mine near Fermont, with an area of 24 km², equivalent to 2,222 soccer fields.
Underground mines
At first glance, underground mines resemble anthills. In reality they are huge networks of vertical and horizontal tunnels that provide access to ore deposits. Once extracted, the ore is brought to the surface via shafts and sent to the concentrator.
What’s inside an underground mine?
An access ramp: A large spiral tunnel communicating with all levels of the mine. It allows vehicles to rapidly access the different galleries at each level.
The galleries: Long tunnels leading to the deposit to be mined.
Access shaft: A vertical passage used to take equipment and machinery underground, to transport personnel, and to bring ore up to the surface. It is essentially the backbone of the mine.
Air shafts: These shafts ensure the ventilation, air filtration, temperature, and air quality of the galleries.
Mining Machines
Mining machines” provides complex delivery of mining equipment, author’s supervision and after-sale services. The Company’s businesses manufacture roadheaders and coal cutters, powered supports, scraper and belt-type conveyors, hoists, transformer substations, electric locomotives, mine cars and other mining equipment (overall about 400 items).