Ore Haulage Methods & Equipment

In track mines, ore is drawn from the chutes on various working levels into rail cars known as ore cars. These are hauled, or trammed, by electric or diesel locomotives to a station where the cars are dumped. The ore falls down a short finger raise into a main ore pass. Ore cars vary in capacity from one to 20 tonnes.

The ore pass is a fairly large raise, usually 2.5 to 3.5 metres (8 to 11 feet) in diameter, into which the broken ore is dumped. The main ore pass extends from the uppermost level all the way down to the deepest level in the mine. Short finger raises are excavated from each level into the main ore pass. The ore falls to an underground crusher station. Control chutes are usually established at various intervals in the ore pass system to provide ore storage above the crusher. To prevent oversized chunks of ore from plugging up the ore pass, steel rails are placed in a grid-work pattern, called a grizzly, over the dumping station.

Common practice is to install a large jaw or gyratory crusher in the underground crusher station. This unit crushes the ore, usually to less than 15 cm (6 inches). The ore then falls into a large chamber or bin below the crusher. From here, it is fed into a loading pocket situated near the shaft bottom.