Concept for Applying the Continuous and Selective Mining Features of Surface Miners in a Strip Mining Operation

Surface miners in the last years have experienced a remarkable development, from a technological point of view as well as in their area of application. The factors that determine the applicability of the machine are the hardness of the material to be cut and the dimensions of the working area. Additionally when different main equipment are teamed with the Surface miner (SM) in one operation the individual system constraints have to be merged. An example for this is the application of SM in Strip Mining operations. Furthermore, since SM have proven their advantages in stratified deposit with interburden, schemes are required for combined operation. This paper analyzes the systematic approach to merge the constraints of Strip Mining operations with those of a SM. Of utmost importance for the SM mining sequence of coal (and interburden respectively) is the way the DL continues after finishing one and starting the next strip. Accordingly this paper furthermore discusses the consequences of the different options for the DL and the SM operation.