Mining_Methods_UnderGround_Mining - Mining and Blasting

BarrOCa grande, POrTugal
Scooptram ST600LP in low headroom stope.
drilling and excellent drill steel economy.
Drilling is performed primarily on
day and afternoon shifts on around 50
faces. These are maintained in close
proximity to one another, to avoid long
moves for the drill rigs.
Scooptram ST600lP
Each Scooptram ST600LP cleans 4-6
headings/shift on a maximum 200 m
Main access ramp to level 2 at Panasqueira mine.
round trip to tip, consuming 12 lit/h of
dieseline.
The ST600LP is an extremely robust
LHD designed specifically for demanding
low seam applications where the
back heights are as low as 1.6 m. It has
an operating weight of 17.3 t and a tramming
capacity of 6 t, equipped with a
3.1 cu m bucket. It is 8.625 m-long,
1.895 m-wide and 1.56 m from floor to
top of canopy. It is powered by a robust
6-cylinder diesel engine, providing a
mechanical breakout force of 8.7 t and
hydraulic breakout force of 9.3 t. For
visibility on the far side of the machine,
video cameras point forward and aft,
reporting to a screen in the driver’s cab.
The model has gained a well-deserved
reputation in the platinum, palladium
and chrome mines of South Africa,
where gradients are steep and rock is
highly abrasive. The ST600LP is now
proving itself in similar rigorous conditions
at Panasqueira, where the roof is
not well defined, and there are frequent
seam irregularities.
The mine currently operates at a rate
of 65,000 t/m with a recovered grade
of 0.2% WO3, which should produce
about 112 t of high grade and 20 t of
low-grade concentrate. Some 150 people
are employed underground on two shifts,
five days per week.
acknowledgements
Atlas Copco is grateful to the directors
and management at Panasqueira for
their kind assistance in the production
of this article, and for providing access
to the mine statistics.
140 underground mining methods