Automation has been widely pursued in the manufacturing arena for quite some

time, with many successful applications in electronics, auto, and other general
manufacturing plants. However, the development of automation in mining
operations had been held back by the difficulty of the mining environment, the
hazards associated with mining, and the lack of direct application of concepts
developed in other areas of industry. During the last decade, mining companies
have overcome many of the obstacles and have begun vigorous development of
automation applications. This has been accomplished primarily in Canada and
Sweden, though the industry in other countries has also been involved in the
process. It seems as though the automation age has finally come to the mining
industry.
Automation is ordinarily introduced into machinery operations in several forms. The
first is semiautonomous control, in which a computer controls some of the
machine's functions but the overall operation is monitored and control- led by a
human observer. This type of automation is commonly used in the metal industry
for the control of underground LHDS from the surface (Brophey and Euler, 1994;
Braiden and Henderson, 1994; Baiden, 1994; and Picher and Gaultier, 1996). In this
system, the operator controls the LHD via teleoperation during the loading process
and turns the transport over to a system that advances the vehicle along the haul
road using a guidance system consisting of two lasers that allow the machine to
follow a reflective tape over the haulage. The basic concept of the system is
illustrated in Figure 13.6. In this arrangement, the operator may be able to control
two or three loaders from the surface while an additional person, located
underground, maintains the equipment and solves problems as they occur.
A second major development in underground mining is the control of drilling rigs
from the surface (Braiden, 1996; Wyllie, 1996; Poole et al., 1998). Used mostly for
the drilling of fan patterns of holes for sublevel caving. This application is again
semiautonomous, the operator controlling the drills at times while some of the
operations are conducted automatically. The primary

FIGURE 13.6. Vehicle guidance system using reflective tape. Source: Piotte et
al., 1997, CIM Bulletin, V. 90, n. 1006, pp. 78-81. Reprinted by permission" of
the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum.

advantages of this system are that the operator can operate several drills and the
performance of the drills is generally significantly better than that of manually
operated drills.
Other advances in automation in Canada have been achieved in the potash held of
Saskatchewan (Fortney, 1996, 2001). ln this operation, the continuous miners, the
belt conveyors, and the hoisting system arc all part of the automated mining
process controlled from a central operator's station. Although efficiency was the
primary goal it has been reported that ground control was also greatly improved
because of more uniform openings that reduced the likelihood of roof falls.
All of these applications of automation were carried out through use of a broadband
communications system that allowed two-way communication between the
equipment and the operator's station. The system requires a distributed antenna
translator in the mining section, with a leaky cable antenna distributed throughout
the equipment travelways in the section. This allows the operator to send
commands to each piece of equipment and receive data back from the equipment.
The emergence of automated equipment has also been evident elsewhere in the
world. In Sweden, the train haulage system, the hoists, the drills, and the LHDS are
all part of the industrys automation efforts. Again, the mining method is sublevel
caving, showing that the application to drilling regular patterns of holes is one of the
most appropriate uses of automation. The successful use of these automation
procedures throughout the international mining industry indicates that they are
clearly applicable to underground mining and that productivity can be increased
dramatically in the right application. A number of publications have discussed the
increases in production and productivity that have occurred. Some projected
productivity figures are available in Baiden (1994). Perhap's more indicative of the
progress made are the productivity increases shown by Shuey (1999), such as the
increase in productivity at Incos mines from about 2200 tons/person/ (2000
tonnes/person/) to about 3800 tons/person/yr (5500 tonnes/person/yr) in less than a
decade. The increase is due both to increases in production and the labor
requirement. It indicates the power of automation in the mining workplace.
ln surface mining, automation is also being utilized to improve productivity.
However, the systems associated with automation are different from those for
underground mining. The central technology used in surface mining is that of the
global positioning system (GPS). This system allows the location and control of
equipment in an open pit to an accuracy of 1 cm (0.4 in.) and enables automation of
any open pit equipment to proceed where the GPS is applicable. To date, the
technology has been applied primarily to surveying functions in a mine; positioning
and boom orientation of blasthole drills; positioning, elevation maintenance, and ore
grade control at shovels; haulage truck location and dispatching; and autonomous
vehicle navigation (Peck and Gray, 1995). The following paragraphs summarize
some of these applications.

The positioning of drills and shovels to provide better blasthole patterns and ore
grade control has been te objectives of the technology developed by Aquila Mining
Systems ( Peck and Gray 1995; Greene, 1999). The GPS allows the drills to be
properly locates and the drill towers to be adjusted to permit accurate drill hole
positioning. Many of the same abilities are applied to the location of the shovel and

the elevation control to produce the surveying work that would normally be
conducted to achieve this control of the operation. The real-time kinematic GPS
technology (also called high-precision GPS) is now used in more than 150 mines
worldwide to replace the many surveying and marking functions previously
performed by hand (Greeene, 1999).
Low.precision GPS technology is now also being applied to houl-truck location and
dispatching systems (White and Zoschke, 1994; Peck and Gray, 1995). Previously,
radio beacons had to be located at many points along the haul roads to keep track
of the advance of each truck. Today this equipment can be replaced by GPS
technology to simplify and enhance the dispatching system.
Moreover, GPS can be applied to the operation of autonomous mining trucks (AMTs)
in surface mines (Sprouls, 1997). Caterpillar has demonstrated this technology in
operating two driverless trucks along a repeatable course in both simulated and
actual mining operation. This technology, although not routinely used, is testimony
to how far the automation of mining equipment as come during the last decade.
Most if the applications of automation to the aforementioned situations have been
used in a semiautonomous fashion with a human operator overseeing the activity to
ensure that it is functioning properly. However, some automated systems in mines
are truly autonomous and cam be considered to be the application of robotics, the
total control of machinery without human interaction. Of particular interest are
hoisting systems, rail transport systems belt conveyor networks, and processing
facilities. Where no safety reductions are involved, a mining company can use truly
autonomous control. However, under these conditions, it is normally required that
additional safeguards be built into the system to protect the equipment. Such
precautions ordinarily consist of some or all of the following systems (Polle et al.,
1998) ,obstacle detection, fire suppression ,lighting modifications ,overload
protection, and machine condition indicators (e.g. vibration, temperature, and fluid
level sensor). Most of these are necessary because an operator is no longer present
in the vicinity of the equipment to detect problems.
Both evolutionary and revolutionary changes have been evident in the application
of automation and robotics to mining. This area of technology is now set to
continue enhancing the process of mining. It appears that such technology has
captured the hearts and minds of mining people and that its application is limited
only by humankinds ability to create new uses for its many features. This
technology should be as productive in gains over the next decade as it has been
over the last decade. Thus automation and robotics are areas of technology with
great promise for the future.
13.4 HYDRAULIC MINING AND TRANSPORT
13.4.1 Hydraulic Mining: Previous discussion has been directed to hydraulic
penetration (chapter 5) and hydraulicking (chapter 8) . In this section we consider
the additional methods of hydraulic extraction and transport.
The range of applications of hydraulic energy to mining and transport is broad as
demonstrated by the following.
FUNCTION / APPLICATION
Hydraulic penetration (drilling,etc)

DEPOSIT OR MATERIAL
Rock

Hydraulicking (extraction)

Placers (sand,gravel).

Hydraulic mining (extraction)

Coal,soft rock

Hydraulic transport (haulage, hoisting)

Sized bulk material

In hydraulic mining, a very high pressure jet of water, steady or pulsed fragments
consolidated mineral or rock in place. Thus, it has application as a primary
extraction or mining mechanism, although it is limited at present mainly to softer
material . When combined with mechanical action (for mining, cutting, drilling or
boring). Hydraulic attack is a effective technique in mining a variety of materials.
Hydraulic mining utilizes the kinetic energy of fluid jet to break and excavate
material from the solid. Its effectiveness of cutting rate is primarily a function of
nozzle (jet) size, flow, rate pressure, force and power ( Fowkes and Wallace, 1968) .
Other important operating factors are the standoff distance (range) ,the attack
angle ,and the jet traverse rate (Jeramic , 1979) . In addiction the mechanism of
cutting must also be understood. Summers (1992) points out that under some
conditions, the cutting rate improved when the pressure is decreased because of
the way in which the water jet exploits the weaknesses of the rock mass. Lower
pressure allows the jet to better utilize preexisting cracks to break the rock, thus
cutting more rock than with higher pressures.
The range of design parameters (nozzle diameter, pressure and flow rate) employed
in hydraulic mining of a variety of minerals is given in Table 13.2 .
These values are derived from either commercial operations or extensive
experimental work. For the applications shown in the table, the general rules that
apply to a successful hydraulic mining operation are as follows.
1.- Successful hydraulic mining requires that the threshold nozzle pressure
associated with a given substance be exceeded. That pressure is a function of
various rock properties of which the compressive strength is most important. As an
approximation, the threshold pressure of a steady jet must be equal to or greater
than the rock compressive strength .

2.- Cutting rate increases with flow rate ,which because of pump characteristics is
limited by nozzle pressure. In practice, the two variables are optimized, pressure at
a threshold value and flow rate sufficiently high to yield the desired output at a
reasonable power level.
3.- Nozzle diameter is adjusted primarily to regulate the flow rate.
4.- Levels of other operating parameters (force,energy,and power) are determined
from the preceding guidelines and from the mining conditions.
Commercial hydraulic mining operations in North America have been conducted in
Utah for gilsonite and in British Columbia for coal . The general nature of these
operations is illustrated in Figure 13.7 . Although the operations were once quite
successful, they are no longer active. The only extensive hydraulic mining
operations are shown in Table 13.3 . Significant production was achieved in each of
these operations using the hydraulic mining method.
In the future , hydraulic power for cutting rock may be more effectively utilized if it
used as an assist to a conventional mechanical cutting device .
For example , a drag bit or a continuous miners pick outfitted with a properly
designed hydraulic jet ,aimed very close to the point of attack ahead of the cutter,
will greatly improve performance in some rocks(Ropchan et,al, 1980).
Performance improved by up to 40 % but was not achieved in all rock masses. This
technology has been applied in a number of the other mining machines with varying
results (Summer, 1992) . Of particular note are applications to road headers ,tunnel
boring machines, and longwall shearers. However, the application of hydraulic
assist to mechanical cutters does not always result in overall savings.

Another technique that has proven to be a viable technology is borehole slurrying .

Savanick (1992) provides an excellent summary of the applications.

Of this method. The method has been applied to coal, uranium, coal sands, and
phosphate with good results but without favorable economics for commercial
applications. The environmental characteristics of the method are generally
favorable, which may give it some advantage over other mining methods. The
technology can also be useful under certain conditions where other mining methods
are not suitable ,but the economics will still be an problem in most cases.
13.4.2 Hydraulic Transport
Hydraulic transport is the process of moving solid particles suspended in water in a
channel or pipe. The method has been used extensively in processing plants, but
less often in mining operations. However there are sufficient applications to mining
to make hydraulic transport a serious contender for use under a number of
conditions. Pipelines for coal and ores of copper, gold, iron, limestone, and
phosphate have been used worldwide (Link ,1982) . Although the technology has
been in existence since 1891,the first commercial pipelines were not built in the
United States until 1957. At that time ,to combat high rail charges, CONSOL built a
108 mi (174 km) pipeline in Ohio to move coal from mines to a power plant in
Cleveland . The company successfully operated the system until rail charges came
down . In addition , a 72 mi (116 km) pipeline was built to connect a gilsoline mine
near Bonanza ,Utah to a processing facility in Grand Junction ,Colorado , Both of
these lines were quite successful ,pointing to the viability of hydraulic transport in
mining . A later pipeline, built from the Black Mesa Mine in Arizona to the Mohave
power plant in Nevada, is the longest (273 mi or 439 km) in use today. Although the
overland hydraulic transport of minerals is a viable technological system ,the

political climate for such pipelines is not favorable. A reason is the lack of an
eminent domain law for pipelines, which greatly reduces their viability for long
overland routes.
Perhaps the most attractive method of using hydraulic transport is to couple it with
a hydraulic mining system . This has been done in a number of international mining
operations . In the United States , the procedure has very seldom been used.
However ,one coal mine in Wst Virginia did employ a unique hydraulic transport
system (Petry , 1982) . In this mine, coal from both longwall and continuous miner
faces was transported to the preparation plant via hydraulic pipeline ,with the
introduction of the coal into the pipeline at the logical and economic problems.
However, the system did prove that hydraulic transport could be used under these
conditions.
13.4.3 Summary of Hydraulic Applications
Both hydraulic mining and hydraulic transport are proven technologies. However,
the technological viability must be matched with favorable economics for the
technology to be used. Clearly, this has been achieved in a limited number of cases
for mining and minerals transport throughout the world. It appears that this
technology has a future in mining but is restrained by the limited number of
situations where an economic justification is available. The technology is thus likely
to be used on a limited basis.
13.5 Methane Drainage
Methane drainage ,also called coal degasification ,is the practice of removing gas in
a coal seam and adjoining strata through wellbores,drillholes, and pipelines. In some
respects it resembles borehole mining ,although operations may be conducted
either from the surface or underground. Drainage is also similar to well production
of natural gas, the principal constituent of which is methane. It may proceed
independently of or in conjunction with mining.
Methane drainage is not a new method. Attempts to frail firedamp (methane) from
coal seams date back to 1730 in Great Britain ,with the first successful controlled
system installed in 1943 in Germany (Buntain , 1983).
Today it is heavily used in Europe and China and is rapidly becoming common in the
United States. The potential supply of coalbed methane in the United States. The
potential supply of coalbed methane in the United States has been estimated
(Potential Gas Committee, 1993) at 275 to 649 trillion ft3 (7.8 to 18.4 trillion m3).
The world supply of methane exists largely in the hands of three countries : 40.2%
in Russia , 30.8% in the United States, and 16.4% in China (Murray, 1996).
In their ventilating airstreams ,US underground mines emitted the following
methane quantities in 1998 (Schultz, 2000).

The methane captured in drainage systems in US. Coal mines currently comes from
about 17 mines. Most of these mines attempt to market the methane they capture,
but it is not always possible to do so. Although methane drainage is a concept that
has been recognized as an answer to mine safety problems for many years , it is it
is only in the last 15 years that US mines have begun to harvest significant
quantities of this gas.