Experience of operation of surface miners in opencast mining of cement raw materials

The review of mining of cement raw materials reveals avenues of improvement of surface mining technology in difficult geological conditions. In preparatory drilling and blasting of rocks, continuous bulk mining, without separation of rock mass layers, enables a substantial increase in productive capacity of an opencast mine. However, extraction of cement raw materials in rock masses with complicated geological structure is unlikely to be efficient in such geotechnical conditions. The key technological feature of surface miners is the unique design and structure of the step cutting drum and the operating space of the machine. In order to enhance productivity of surface miners, it is required to optimize the cutting drum design to facilitate application of continuous or cyclic-and-continuous technology of mining at minimized number of auxiliary operations and noncutting runs of a surface miner. The article discusses the main factors that influence determination of a smart use domain of surface miners and their efficiency in opencast mining of structurally complex deposits of raw materials used for making cement. The accomplished research proves that blast-free opencast mining of structurally complex deposits of cement raw materials using surface miners ensures the mining safety, improves the quality of raw materials for cement production, provides the end product immediately in the face zone, enables rejecting secondary crushing of raw material before shipping, allows lower mineable thickness of raw materials and mitigates the environmental impact of the process flow.

Fomin S. I., Ljeljen A. Experience of operation of surface miners in opencast mining of cement raw materials. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2025;(1):128-140. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2025_1_0_128.

S.I. Fomin¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, e-mail: fominsi@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0939-1189,
Ljeljen Aleksa¹, Graduate Student, e-mail: s215134@stud.spmi.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1358-1142,
¹ Empress Catherine II Saint-Petersburg Mining University, 199106, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

Ljeljen Aleksa, e-mail: s215134@stud.spmi.ru.

1. Pikhler M., Pankevich Yu. B. Mining technology and schemes for using the 2100 and 2200 SM shearers from Wirtgen gmbh. Russian Mining Industry Journal. 2001, no. 4, pp. 51—53. [In Russ].

2. Cheban A. Y. The classification of structures surface miners. Nedropolzovanie — XXI vek. 2015, no. 5 (55), pp. 64—69. [In Russ].

3. Elenkin V. F., Klementieva I. N. Research into effect of a dry friction effective coefficient on a shearer cutting drum anti torque moment under driving torque forced harmonic vibrations. Russian Mining Industry Journal. 2014, no. 1 (113), pp. 112—113. [In Russ].

4. Kramadibrata S., Simangunsong G. M., Widodo N. P., Wattimena R. K., Tanjung R. A., Wicaksana Y. Rock excavation by continuous surface miner in limestone quarry. Geosystem Engineering. 2015, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 1—13.

5. Arsent'ev A. I. Proizvoditel'nost' kar'erov [Quarry productivity], Saint-Petersburg, 2002, 85 p.

6. Anisimov K. A., Nikiforov A. V. Modern technologies of the development of diamondiferous deposits. Bulletin of the Tomsk Polytechnic University. Geo Assets Engineering. 2023, vol. 334, no. 1, pp. 196—208. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.18799/24131830/2023/1/3837.

7. Afeni T. B., Akeju V. O., Aladejare A. E. A comparative study of geometric and geostatistical methods for qualitative reserve estimation of limestone deposit. Geoscience Frontiers. 2021, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 243—253.

8. Jovanović В., Milosevic D., Čanović V., Konc-Janković K. Management of the limestone mining and deposition process at the open pit Mutalj for the purpose of achieving the necessary quality. Mining and Metallurgy Engineering Bor. 2016, no. 1, pp. 51—54. DOI: 10.5937/mmeb1601051J.

9. Vu T., Bao T., Drebenstedt C., Pham H., Nguyen H., Nguyen D. Optimisation of long-term quarry production scheduling under geological uncertainty to supply raw materials to a cement plant. Mining Technology. 2021, vol. 130, no. 3, pp. 146—158.

10. Bralić N., Malvić T. Cement raw material reserve calculation — Geological sections vs. structural maps approaches, case study from Southern Croatia. Minerals. 2022, vol. 12, no. 8, article 1056. DOI: 10.3390/min12081056.

11. Al-Anweh A. M., Abu-Zeid M. M., El-Anbaawy M. I., Al-Akhaly I. A. Characterization and quality evaluation of cement raw materials and their possible substitutes in Yemen. Arabian Journal of Geosciences. 2022, vol. 15, no. 14. DOI: 10.1007/s12517-022-10527-2.

12. Vinogradov I. P., Smelyanskiy I. V. Determination of ore losses when designing the technology of layer-by-layer milling of inclined deposits of complex structure. Novaya nauka: problemy i perspektivy: Sbornik statey Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii [The New Science: Problems and Prospects. Collection of articles of the International Scientific and Practical Conference], Sterlitamak, RITS AMI, 2015, pp. 184—188. [In Russ].

13. Będkowski T., Kasztelewicz Z., Sikora M. Technical and economic analysis of mechanical rock extraction based on 'Raciszyn' deposit. Inzynieria Mineralna. 2016, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 107—112.

14. Vinogradov Y. I., Khokhlov S. V., Zigangirov R. R., Miftakhov A. A., Suvorov Y. I. Optimization of specific energy consumption for rock crushing by explosion at deposits with complex geological structure. Journal of Mining Institute. 2024, vol. 266, pp. 241—245. [In Russ].

15. Murzahanov K., Khokhlov S., Vinogradov Y., Sokolov S. Experience and practical results of marmorized limestone reserves re-evaluation. Test Engineering and Management. 2020, vol. 82, pp. 3248—3252.

16. Origliasso C., Cardu M., Kecojevic V. Surface miners: Evaluation of the production rate and cutting performance based on rock properties and specific energy. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences. 2014, vol. 47(2), pp. 757—770.

17. Liu P., Zhou W., Cai Q., Shi X., Xu G. The thin coal seam (TCS) mining technology for open pit mines in China. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering. 2018, vol. 36, pp. 1—11.

18. Ordin A. A., Schwabenland E. E. Evaluation of technological parameters for apatite extraction by surface miners. Journal of Mining Science. 2016, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 293—299.

19. Grabsky A. A., Plekhanov F. I., Kantovich L. I., Pushkarev I. A. Investigation of loading and deformability of elements of multisatellite planetary transmission of a surface miner. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2018, no. 4, pp. 82—86. [In Russ].

20. Volk H-J. Wirtgen drivers the development of surface mining. Procedia Engineering. 2016, no. 138, pp. 30—39.

21. Zajączkowski M. Technological and economic analysis of the application of surface miner on the example of a limestone deposit in Poland. Inżynieria Mineralna. 2021, vol. 48, no. 2. DOI: 10.29227/IM-2021-02-21.

22. Bodziony P., Kasztelewicz Z., Sawicki P. The problem of multiple criteria selection of the surface mining haul trucks. Archives of Mining Sciences. 2016, vol. 61, no. 2. DOI: 10.1515/amsc2016-0017.

23. Shvabenland E. E. The potential of continuous milling combines in open-pit mining operations. Ratsionalnoe osvoenie nedr. 2014, no. 1, pp. 54—60. [In Russ].

24. Prakash A., Sita Ramachandra Murthy V. M., Bahadur Singh K. A new rock cuttability index for predicting key performance indicators of surface miners. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences. 2015, vol. 77, pp. 339—347.

25. Dey K., Ghose A. K. Predicting “cuttability” with surface miners — A rockmass classification approach. Journal of Mines, Metals and Fuels. 2008, vol. 56, no. 5-6, pp. 85—91.

26. Shemyakin S. A., Matveev D. N., Cheban A. Yu. Economic substantiation of the efficiency of blastless selective excavation of minerals and host rocks using technical and technological complexes based on milling combines. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2015, no. 2, pp. 43—46. [In Russ].

27. Fomin S. I., Ljeljen A. Substantiation of the operational block parameters during the development of cement raw material deposits by mining combines of layer-wise milling. Mineral mining & conservation. Ratsionalnoe osvoenie nedr. 2023, no. 3, pp. 20—25. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.26121/ PОН.2022.73.20.001.