Modern mining equipment, whether surface or underground, presents challenges to hose manufacturers to provide products that meet or exceed equipment’s criteria. New equipment designs require higher working pressures, larger inside diameters and compounds to handle multiple fluids. Systems that operate at higher pressures provide quicker performance, which can enhance production output at the mine site while demanding more out of hoses.
Hose offerings today are designed to serve multiple areas of operations with higher pressure ratings, better bend radiuses and abrasion-resistant covers to accomplish the most severe requirements. Mine owners are challenged daily with keeping equipment in good working order at all times; downtime is not an option. The process requires many contiguous operations going on at the same time; when one area is down, it may greatly affect other areas of the operation.
Hose is an integral part of most equipment in mines, and by design, the weak link in the system. This makes it imperative to have the best quality hose and accessories that are available on a moment’s notice to keep mines up and running. This article discusses two types of mining, surface and underground, and compares the two for hose needs.
Surface mining
Surface mining equipment requires much larger hose and fittings coverage than in underground mines. Diverse types of equipment — including scrappers, dozers, haul trucks, water trucks, hydraulic shovels and drill rigs — all have similar hydraulic needs. Typically seen are ¼-inch to 2-inch hydraulic hoses in braided and spiral constructions that cover low, medium, high and ultra-high pressure ranges.
Underground mining
Slightly more than 50 percent of mining is conducted underground. Over the last several years, underground mining has become an efficient, sophisticated operation utilizing the latest technology. New processes use less manpower since the machines now do most of the work. The hose needs are slightly different in this operation and are split into several different areas of operation. The equipment used in these processes is all hydraulically operated and requires dependable hose.