D7101 - Open-pit mining

Operational Details
Open-pit and strip mining is used to mine for shallow deposits and is common in coal and uranium mining. Other minerals may include (but not limited to): bentonite and kaolin.

The process of open-pit mining is also referred to as surface mining, open cut mining, or strip mining whereby such ores and minerals are extracted from a large hole or pit on the surface.

Coal and uranium work with different surfaces, therefore follow different processes. The process for coal involves: rubber tire scrapers remove the top layer of earth and then the overburden (or dirt covering the coal) is then removed by dragline. An electric shovel then takes the coal from the pit and loads it onto the 150 ton coal trucks. The trucks then deliver the coal from the pit to the loadout facility.

The process for uranium is generally as follows: the material/area to be mined is prepared for blasting; the blast charge is set off and material inspected. The blasted material is then pushed into a manageable state so that the loading equipment can more efficiently load it. The loading equipment then loads the blasted material into 100 ton haul trucks. When ore is being loaded, geologists closely monitor the activity to ensure proper grade segregation and minimum dilution. The loaded trucks then haul the blasted material to the appropriate stockpile location, when in ore or near ore zones, all haul trucks go through the overhead scanner to determine the exact grade and correct stockpile location.

Examples of occupations in the open-pit mining include: equipment operator/driver, blasters, mine foreman, mine geologist, mine supervisor.

Examples of type of equipment used include: Drilltech DK-60 Drills - 270 mm hole size, O&K RH120C Hydraulic shovel - 12m3 capacity, Caterpillar 992 Load (2) - 9m3 capacity, Hitachi Kydraulic Backhoe - 3.5m3 capacity, Caterpillar 777D Haulage Trucks (3) - 100 ton capacity, Euclid R100 Haulage Trucks (2), Caterpillar 14G road grader, Caterpillar D9 Bulldozer (2), Caterpillar 869 water truck, rubber tire scrapers, crushing equipment, dragline, pneumatic drill grader, jack leg, off-highway ore truck, crawler, electric shovel, haul unit.

The primary use of uranium is fuel for nuclear reactors. Coal is used in the production of electricity. Bentonite is a soft clay substance which can be used as a binding agent and diagnostic aid in animal feed, cat litter, and a plasticizer in ceramic clay applications.

SIC Codes
000000314 - Mining uranium - open pit
000000315 - Mining bentonite - open seam
000000316 - Mining kaolin - open seam
000000319 - Mining coal - open seam
000000378 - Geophysical/geological work
000000380 - Prospecting, mineral exploration
000000387 - Blasting