Surface miners are continuously operating mobile machines that cut consolidated soils and semi-solid rocks without drilling or blasting. They have a central cutting drum located between two crawler tracks that can be raised and lowered hydraulically. As the drum cuts the material, it is loaded onto on-board conveyors for transport and loading onto trucks. Surface miners allow for selective mining of coal seams and partings with less dilution and higher quality coal. They are well-suited for mining areas where blasting is prohibited and improve coal recovery.

1. WORKING OF ICC-BWE-ROCK BREAKER
I. Satyanarayana,
M.Tech,MBA,MCA
Dy. Manager, Project Planning, SCCL,
isnindian@gmail.com,
visit at
www.slideshare.net/isnindian
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2. Mining with SHOVEL – DUMPER combination
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4. Surface Miner
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5. 5. Surface Miner
Technology
•Used for selective mining
•Larger strike length of about 600 m – 1000 m and
widths of around 300 m are ideally suited for surface
miner.
•Does not need drilling and blasting. The machine
cuts the coal & loads into trucks for onward
transportation to Surface
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6. SURFACE MINER
Engine hp : 800
Annual production : 10 L. Cu.M
Gradient :1 in 10
Deployed for selective mining
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7. SURFACE MINER SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM
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9. What is Surface Miner?
Surface Miner is :
- continuously operating mobile opencast machine
- it cuts consolidated soils and semi – solid rocks
without drilling and blasting
- the cut material is pre-crushed and suitable for belt
conveying, loading, transporting and transferred to
down stream means of transportation
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10. Operation:
Surface Miner operates:
- according to the “Rock cutting technology”
- the cutting drum is provided with point attack picks
- which cut the mining face during the continuous
advance of the machine on crawler track assemblies.
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13. A modern surface miner –
here's how it works
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14. Technical highlight:
Clever design with central cutting drum
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15. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
• The milling drum is mechanically driven by the direct
drive system through transmission (V-belts) directly
via a mechanical clutch on the flywheel side of the
diesel engine. A Gear box provided in between
Cutting drum and Transmission will suitably reduce
the RPM of the drum.
• There is also a Power Take Off Gear / Split Gear
connected to other end of the engine through
universal joint which transmits power for driving four
Hydraulic pumps one each for Advance drive,
Rising & lowering of Cylinders, Conveyor operation,
Water/Fan pump.
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16. UNIVERSAL CLUTCH
WATER PUMP &
FAN PUMP JOINT
CONVEYOR
DRIVE
ENGINE
P. T . O
550 HP
ADVANCE DRIVE
2110 RPM
ALL CYLENDERS
FUNCTION
‘V’ - BELTS
CUTTING DRUM GEAR BOX
Schematic Diagram of Power Transmission
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18. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
the surface miner is crawler-mounted machine having a cutting
drum located b/w two sets of crawlers and positioned at the center
of the machine.
the drum is lowered and raised by hydraulic system with
powerful hydraulic motors therby varying the depth of cut.
the material cut is loaded onto the primary and secondary
discharge conveyors for loading the same onto the loading
/transporting equipment.
the rear crawler travel at lower level then the front crawlers to
adjust to the required depth. The depth is adjusted through
electronically controlled depth regulator located at the side of the
machine which is operated by the co-operator at the floor of the
machine.
The machine is operated by an operator in side the cabin. and a
co-operator on ground level who isISN
responsible for smooth operation
and control of the machine.

19. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
• The surface miner has two sets of crawlers, each individual crawler
unit in front-set has its own steering cylinder facilitating negotiation
on the sharp turns.
• Each crawler unit and the cutting head can be raised or lowered by
means of hydraulic cylinders provided for the purpose.
• The milling drum operates in Up-milling direction and cuts the
material slice-by-slice on the floor of the bench.
• The cut materials are picked up by a tool and flight system centrally
on to the primary conveyer belt which during transportation further
reduces the size of the material.
• The primary conveyor further transports the material to the
secondary conveyer, which in turn loads the material finally onto the
truck or side castled in the mine.
• The cutting drum is followed by a scraper blade which gathers any
material left on the floor. This ensures a clean and smooth floor
without any Undulations.
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20. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
• Dust suppression is ensured by means of water spray arranged
on the cutting drum, which also serves the dual purpose of
cooling of picks, thus prolonging their useful life.
• The surface miner is equipped with an air- conditioned operator's
cabin, which has all machine controls within comfortable reach of
the operator.
• The surface miner is also equipped with flood light for night
operation.
• The operator in the cabin controls the speed, position of the belt
conveyor for proper loading into the tippers.
• The machine normally loads on to tippers directly by slewing the
belt conveyor. In case of failure of the mechanism of belt
conveyor, the machine can produce coal/mineral by windrowing
operation.
• In Windrowing the machine moves at a faster rate and cuts the
slices and leaves behind conical section-cut material which can
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be loaded by deploying pay-loaders on to the tippers.

21. Surface Miner – Cutting & Wind Rowing
WIN
WI D ROW
ND S
RO
WS
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22. REASONS FOR DEPLOYMENT OF
SURFACE MINER IN SCCL
Improvement of quality by selective mining of coal
Eco-Friendly mining of coal
Improved coal recovery especially in areas sensitive
to blasting
Less coal loss and dilution
Primary crushing and fragmentation of coal
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23. Surface Miner – Cutting & Loading
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26. Selective mining of coal
Coal seams are often contaminated by undesired waste material.
When mining by conventional methods, these waste materials are
also claimed and mixed with the coal, reducing its thermal energy.
Processing and cleaning the contaminated coal increases the
operational costs and reduces the overall profits.
Using the Surface Miner the utilisation grade of the deposit
increases.
Surface Miners can selectively removes all waste materials,
regardless of their hardness or characteristics, so that the valuable
coal can then be salvaged without any unwanted contamination.
The waste material is separately loaded onto trucks and transported
directly to the dump.
The thermal value of the coal claimed by the Surface Miner during a
mining operation was more than 30 percent higher than that of coal
claimed by shovel dumper combination.
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27. APLICABILITY
• Surface miner has wide applicability in projects where
drilling and blasting is prohibited, thus improves coal
recovery in such areas which are sensitive to blasting
operations.
• It can be conveniently used for mining of coal and
overburden.
• As this machine can cut the slices up to 10 cm, it has wide
applicability in extracting coal seams having any number of
intermittent dirt bands.
• This machine can be worked in coal seams having
Gradient up to 1 in 4.
• This can also be worked in coal seams having Geological
disturbances like faults & folds (The minimum area
required for convenient operation of this machine is 200 m
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X 60 m).

28. ADVANTAGES
• Produces Coal at 30% higher Thermal Value (Grade)
comparative to Shovel/Dumper Combination due to less dilution
as it cuts insitu Coal seams.
• Selective Mining: As Coal seams are cut in 10 – 30 cm thick
layers, segregation of Coal, Shale and other contaminations is
quite possible.
• This machine eliminates major mining operations like Drilling,
Blasting, Loading and Crushing. As such it reduces the overall
production cost by 30 %.
• This machine ensures a clean and level floor without any
Undulations. This reduces wear on the tyres and axles of other
machinery and vehicles working on the bench and enhances their
life.
• Less stress and strain on Loaders and Trucks due to minimum
impact by the excavated (i.e. crushed) material.
• This method reduces the capacity requirements of coal washing
plants.
• This Machine gives high productivity at lower comparative cost.
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29. Application & Advantages of
Surface Miner:
Surface miner find their natural applications in
projects where drilling and blasting is prohibited
or where selective mining of mineral seams,
partings and overburden is required
In India, since the coal has been formed with drift
origin and hence dirt bands in the coal seams
are mostly non-lenticular.
It can be conveniently used for mining of coal
and also overburden.
It can cut, comminute and load the rock in a
single operation. ISN

30. Besides they offer further advantages as for
example : -Less coal loss and dilution.
Improved coal recovery especially in areas
sensitive to blasting.
Surface Miner eliminates drilling / blasting, primary
crushing and also shoveling.
Since the cutting depth can be set with great
accuracy, thin seams can also be mined
selectively with high purity.
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31. Application & Advantages of
Surface Miner:
• Presently being used in KOCP-I for selective mining.
• Can work safely on a gradient of 1 in 10. However, presently
being worked in KOCP-1 in gradient of 1 in 4.
• Annual productivity of the model 2000 SM is around 2.00 MT per
annum. However, high capacity of surface miner are also
available.
• Larger strike length of about 600 m – 1000 m and widths of
around 300 m are ideally suited for surface miner.
• Does not need drilling and blasting.
• Can crush coal up to -100 mm.
• Cutting size can be varied by selection of equipment, speed etc.
• Two methods of coal removal are available – Wind rowing i.e.,
loading the crushed coal by front and loader on to trucks and
dispatch of the cut material by gathering arms on to a belt
conveyor and then to a waiting trucks.
• At KOCP-I, Grade improved ISN F to E by this technology.
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32. MAJOR ADVANTAGES OF SURFACE
MINER TECHNOLOGY
Direct excavation of hard material without
need for drilling and blasting.
High productivity
Low cost for multi seam mining including
hard coal and overburden.
Possibility to link the machine directly to
continuous conveyor transport systems.
Higher recovery rate of coal
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33. Precrushing of coal to eliminate primary
crushing plants & high selective mining
capabilities to eliminate interbands to improve
coal quality.
Surface Miner shall be very much needed for
future mining due to higher productivity, less
hazard, eco-friendliness, better quality of
product, better exploitation of mining property
and also considering the poor quality of coal
from future coal seams to have an economic
solution for producing low ash coal as per
government regulations for power plants (less
than 34 % ash for transporting distance > 1000
km). ISN

34. Safety
Eco – friendly Mining – No fatigue.
Less Man power and No HEMM.
No blasting.
There is no fire hazard to the coal seam as it
never leaves behind any material amenable
to spontaneous heating.
The road becomes smooth after even cut
and thus facilitates easy movement of
tippers and other equipment.
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35. SAFETY
• No ground movement of the workers except one
Supervisor
• There is no fire hazard to the coal seam as it never
leaves any carbonaceous material amenable to
spontaneous heating.
• The working bench and haul roads are made level during
the operation of winning Coal by Surface Miner, which
provides better operational safety.
• In addition, this Machine have other safety features like,
Engine pre-start alarm, Five no’s of emergency Engine
stop buttons at easily accessible points around the
machine, Five no’s of warning-Horn buttons & Audio
visual alarm during reversal operation.
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36. LIMITATIONS
• This Machine has limited application in seams
steeper than 1 in 4.
• This Machine can’t serve the purpose of
selective mining in seams having dirt bands less
than 5 cm thickness. The performance of the
machine in terms of coal production get reduced
with the increase in no. of such dirt bands.
• The performance of this machine also reduced
with the presence of geological disturbances in
Coal seams i.e. Presence of Faults, particularly
in strike direction which limits the Dimensions of
the working bench for Surface miner.
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38. The comparison of specifications of the Writgen Surface Miner 2200SM & 2100SM
2200SM 2100SM
Overall length 18200 MM 15500 MM
Overall width 3800 MM 2500 MM
Overall height 4500 MM 4500 MM
Milling/Cutting Width- 3800 MM 2100 MM
Milling/Cutting depth- 0 – 300 MM 0 – 250 MM
Engine output 670 KW/900 HP 448 KW/610 HP
Make of the Engine CATER PILLAR CATER PILLAR
Engine Model 3412 E 3412 E
Maximum longitudinal tilting while milling: 5 Degrees
No. of crawlers 4 4
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39. 2200SM 2100SM
Cutting drum drive Mechanical Mechanical
Travel Drive System Hydraulic/All crawler
Production 600 M3/Hr(Av.) 270 M3/Hr(Av.)
Traveling Speed 0 – 5.0KMPH. 0 – 4.6KMPH.
Fuel consumption (Full load) 168 Ltr/Hr. 110 Ltr /Hr
Milling gear (Cutting speed) 0 – 27 M/Min. 0 – 27 M/Min.
Ground clearance 350 MM 350 MM
No. of picks/bucket 92 Nos. 76 Nos.
Volt 24 V 24 V
Fuel tank 1500 Ltrs. 1200 Ltrs.
Hydraulic oil tank 450 Ltrs. 300 Ltrs
Water tank 5000 Ltrs. 4180 Ltrs.
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Tare weight 41000 Kgs. 37000 Kgs

40. Types of Surface Miners (Wirtgen)
Cutting Cutting
Model Production Specific Use / Applicability
Width Depth
SM Up to The compact and highly maneuverable
1.9m 0.15m machine to mine coal , gypsum, soft
1900 160m3/h
limestone etc.
SM Up to Suitable for road construction and mining to
2.1m 0.30m
2100 280m3/h claim gypsum, soft limestone, coal etc.
SM To mine minerals – without blasting in
Up to
2.6m 0.25m quarries, tunnels and earthmoving
2600 360m3/h operations.
SM Up to The ideal solution for selective mining of soft
3.0m 0.40m
3000 675m3/h mineral layers, such as coal, gypsum etc.
SM The universal machine for earth moving
Up to
3.5m 0.50m operations and mining to remove hard
3500 860m3/h mineral or for selective mineral claiming.
SM Up to The high – performance machine for
4.2m 0.60m
4200 1250m3/h selective and high – volume mining of coal.
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41. Specification of the Writgen
Surface Miner 2100SM
• Overall length - 15500 MM
• Overall width - 2500 MM
• Overall height - 4500 MM
• Milling/Cutting Width - 2100 MM
• Milling/Cutting depth - 0 – 250 MM
• Engine output - 448 KW/610 HP
• Maximum longitudinal tilting while milling- 1 in 4 (25%)
• No. of crawlers - 4
• Cutting drum drive - Mechanical
• Travel Drive System - Hydraulic/All crawler
• Production - 270 M3/Hr(Av.)
• Speed - 10 – 20M/Min.
• Fuel consumption (Full load) - 110 Ltr/Hr.
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42. • Belt width (Primary conveyor) - 1000 MM
• Belt width (Secondary conveyor) - 1000 MM
• Theoretical discharge Performance - 550 M3/Hr
• Ground clearance - 350 MM
• Loading capacity - 550 M3/Hr.
• No. of picks/bucket - 76 Nos.
• Fuel tank - 1200 Ltrs.
• Hydraulic oil tank - 300 Ltrs.
• Water tank - 4180 Ltrs.
• Tare weight - 37000 Kgs.
• Operation weight (Fuel Tank) - 40500 Kgs.
• Cutting speed - 0.45 M/Sec.
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43. CONCLUSION
SURFACE MINER IS A VERSATILE AND
USEFUL EQUIPMENT CAPABLE OF MINING
QUALITY COAL IN HIGHLY INTER – BANDED
COAL SEAMS OF GEOLOGICAL BLOCKS
LOCATED AT ECOLOGICALLY SENCITIVE
AREAS.
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