Sneak Peek #10 - OVERBURDEN MINING

OVERBURDEN MINING - the removal of rocks that cover minerals during open pit mining. Overburden mining includeы the preparation of rocks for excavation and loading, transportation and dumping. Overburden mining is to create the initial mining front during the construction of quarries and during the operation to preserve and develop this front. Overburden rocks that do not contain useful components are removed to external or internal dumps. If overburden rocks are suitable for use as building mineral raw materials (for example, clays, sands, limestone, chalk, etc.), then they are exposed to further processing (crushing, sorting, etc.)

The excavation and loading of loosened overburden rocks from the bottom-hole are performed, as a rule, by excavators, earth moving and transporting (wheeled scrapers, bulldozers) and loading and transporting (single-bucket loaders, etc.) machines.

Excavators of cyclical action, or single-bucket excavators, perform work on the excavation and movement of the soil cyclically: fill the bucket with soil, turn it over, unload it into the dump or other transport, return the bucket to its original position. This type of model is widely distributed due to its versatility. With the help of interchangeable equipment, the single-bucket excavator can perform not only earthworks, but also loading and unloading operations.