Mining equipment
From the drill rig that finds a deposit to the furnace that pours a gold bar and the scale that weighs it, here is what each machine does, in one sentence, and which minerals depend on it.
Drills holes to sample rock deep underground, and later to place blasting charges.
Before anything is mined, core and reverse-circulation drilling bring up rock samples from tens to hundreds of metres down. Those samples tell geologists where the mineral is and how rich it is. In production, the same kind of rig drills the blast holes that break the rock.
Digs broken rock or gravel and loads it into trucks.
The workhorse of almost every mine site. Smaller excavators dig alluvial gravels and gem-bearing soils; large ones load ore at the pit face.
Scoops tens of tonnes of blasted rock per pass in large open pits.
Hydraulic and electric rope shovels are sized to fill a haul truck in a few passes. They set the pace of a large open-pit operation.
Cuts soft rock continuously with a rotating wheel of buckets.
Among the largest machines on land, bucket-wheel excavators work in surface coal mines, feeding a continuous conveyor system rather than trucks.
Used for
Uses water and gravity to separate heavy gold or gems from lighter gravel.
In alluvial and artisanal mining, gravel is washed over a sluice or swirled in a pan. Heavy particles such as gold, garnet and ruby sink and are caught, while lighter material washes away.
Carries ore and waste rock from the pit to the plant or dump.
Rigid haul trucks carry from about 40 to over 300 tonnes. Articulated haulers are smaller and handle soft or steep ground.
Moves crushed ore or coal continuously between machines.
Conveyors are cheaper to run than trucks over fixed routes, linking crushers, stockpiles, processing plants and ship loaders.
Used for
Separates mineral particles by making them stick to air bubbles.
Finely ground ore is mixed with water and reagents. Air bubbles carry the valuable mineral to the surface as a froth, which is skimmed off as a concentrate.
Used for
Reads a material's elements in seconds using X-rays, without damaging it.
Handheld and bench X-ray fluorescence analysers give a fast chemical fingerprint. They are used for screening and grade control, with fire assay or laboratory analysis as the final word.
Weighs parcels to the gram (or carat) on certified, calibrated equipment.
Every price is weight times grade. Scales are calibrated against certified masses, and weight notes are signed by both parties.
Loupe, tweezers, refractometer and spectroscope identify and grade gemstones.
Gemstones are identified by optical properties and graded on colour, clarity, size and treatment. Higher-value stones are sent to an independent laboratory for a report.
