Mining can sometimes be a very slow, tedious process, especially when you first begin a mining company and a project, or when you hit some very hard rock and cannot get through. When you are looking for solutions to these problems early on, where should you turn? It should not surprise you that other mining companies occasionally or regularly use heavy construction equipment to solve their geological digging problems. Here are three ways in which heavy construction equipment can be used as mining equipment.
Excavator
Out of all of the pieces of heavy construction equipment, this may be the single-most, heavily-relied on piece for the simple reason that the excavator moves a lot of earth out of the way and moves it quickly. What the excavator scoops up can also be dropped or shoveled into the automatic sifters used in mining, decreasing any possible loss of the precious minerals or metals for which your company is mining that may be located closer to the surface. It saves a lot of backs and a lot of man hours, something which most mining companies find very useful.
Tunnel Borer
When railroad companies want to construct a rail through a mountain side, or a subway company wants to create a new set of tunnels, the tunnel borer does the job. This piece of equipment looks like an excavator, but has a very large and very sharp corkscrew drill on the front of it. As mining equipment, however, the tunnel borer quickly works to clear away much soil and even hard rock to create perfectly uniform mining tunnels. As the borer backs its way out of a stretch of tunnel, your crew can enter, clear away the soil and debris, and quickly build support beams to keep key areas of the tunnel from collapsing.
Pneumatic Jackhammer on a Backhoe
A backhoe, in and of itself, is great for removing smaller piles of soil and rock debris after the tunnel borer has gone to work. However, it becomes really invaluable to a mining operation when a jackhammer is needed to blast away smaller areas of tough rock. Your crew will have to switch out the claw of the backhoe with the pneumatic jackhammer before getting started, but it will prevent a lot of work injuries and nervous system disorders that are caused by using a handheld jackhammer. It also solves the problem of where to plug the jackhammer in, since it is already located on the front of the truck and powered by the backhoe's batteries. Contact a company like Don Leslie Supply, Inc. for more information.
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