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Mining Empire: Earth Resources News

Sneak Peek #11 - THE SHEARER



The shearer is a combined mining machine that mechanizes technological operations in the longwall, separating the mineral from the reservoir mass and loading it onto a transport machine.
The main functional elements of modern shearers are: the executive body, which destroys (separates the mineral from the reservoir mass) and loads it on the bottomhole conveyor; hydro insert and one or two feeders to move the combine along the face room; drive consisting of one or two electric motors, main (right and left) and rotary gearboxes that transmit a torque from the engines to the shafts of the executive bodies.
On the rotary gearboxes and augers there is a nozzle irrigation system. The main gearboxes are connected to the motor housing by bolts and studs.

The shearers are classified by: the power and angles of incidence of removable reservoirs; the width of the executive body; the design of the executive body and the supply system - by type of energy to drive combines.
The executive bodies of the shearers in design can be: auger, drum, crown, disk, chain and combined.
The following basic requirements are imposed on executive bodies:
  • ensuring the highest possible performance under given mining-geological and mining conditions;
  • destruction of minerals with minimal energy intensity and degree of grinding;
  • implementation of the unloading of minerals from the work area of the executive body and loading it onto the haul truck (when the shearer is working on flat and inclined surfaces);
  • the possibility of infinitely variable height adjustment (according to the thickness of the extracted mineral reservoir);
  • high mechanical efficiency, reliability and durability.

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.

Sneak Peek #9 Drilling machine



A drilling machine is a stationary or self-propelled unit for drilling wells in rocks of various strengths for underground and open-pit mining of mineral resources. There are machines for different purposes: for drilling exploration, mining, including explosive, as well as special wells (degassing, for descent materials, etc.). According to the method of rock destruction, there are percussion rotary and rotary drilling machines. These machines drill wells with a diameter from 100mm to 1000mm to a depth of 200m. Diamond drilling machines used for drilling wells during clearing and exploration in solid and very solid rocks, they have a high frequency of rotation of the drill rod (from 2000 rotations/min and more).

In medium-heavy and heavy self-propelled machines, all working mechanisms and equipment are installed on the platform. Self-propelled drilling machine includes a caterpillar platform, a pneumatic engine or a car, a mast, a rotational-feed mechanism with a drill rod, a compressor, an oil tower, various drive motors with starting equipment, instrumentation and drilling process control equipment, pneumatic transport systems and dust absorption, jacks for machine installation. Mobile (portable) drilling machines have a working body with a drive, brace columns for its installation in the underground workings, a frame on which all parts of the machine are mounted, and a control panel.

Sneak Peek #8 - Pumpjack



A pumpjack is the overground drive for a reciprocating piston pump in an oil well. It's used in the oil-producing industry to drill wells up to 4,000 meters deep.
A typical installation may have a length of 7 m, and a width of about 2-2.5 m. The mass usually exceeds 10 tons. The general principle of the operation of the equipment is similar to the function of a syringe, which in this case is provided by sucker-rod pumps. Also, as an indispensable element, the pumpjack is equipped with columns of compression tubes. Through these channels the lifting and transmission of oil is realized.
The pumpjacks operate in a circular-based way, allowing the oil to concentrate around the well to ensure efficient pumping. In addition, this principle of maintenance minimises deterioration of the parts of a drive.
Operators control the lifting of oil, and technical staff also monitor the operating performance of the mechanisms in terms of maintaining their function within peak-load tolerances. The most common pumpjack in the pump-drive operations is designed for pile-supported mining. With the help of this unit, wells can be drilled in permafrost environments.

Release date delay of Mining Empire: Earth Resources

Hello, dear friends!
We are in a hurry to announce that the release date of our new game Mining Empire: Earth Resources was postponed to the end of April!
We apologize for the inconveniences. Thank you for being with us.