Tribology Equipment for Application in Mining Proects

Mining & Minerals - Evaluations / Other Metals

Mining is an age ­old profession that is focused on the exploration of earth minerals for raw materials necessary for civilization. A classic mining operation encompasses three vital processes in order of extraction, materials handling and processing. Figure 1 shows an example of such an operation. Extraction of minerals, either from the surface or from underground mines, demands the use of a number of techniques like drilling, blasting, digging, etc. Once the minerals are extracted, they are transported to their processing unit using conveyors, haulage (for example, mining trucks) or rail transport system. The large chunks of minerals are broken into smaller sizes and into fine particles in the mineral processing unit. This is accomplished using a combination of techniques like grinding, jaw crushers, etc.

Mining operations have progressed from the use of flint stones to diamond drills and labor intensive activity to energy intensive process. A recent study by Holmberg et. al. (Trib. Int.115 (2017) pp. 116–139) shows that mining operations account for 6.2% of the total global energy consumption. Electricity and diesel are the two major sources of energy for mining.

Among the three processes in mining operations, materials handling consumes more energy compared to extraction and material processing as shown in Figure 2. In mining, energy consumption can be due to friction and wear of materials used in mining operations. Wear of materials is the main reason for equipment failure that increases the cost associated with procurement of the spare components and the downtime cost due to production loss. This monetary loss is used as a metric to account for the consumption of energy due to wear. However, friction, a direct representation of energy consumption, is the energy consumed to overcome the resistance to motion.

Clever way to market new equipment for mining projects.