Services Required in a Mining Operation

Mines don’t just need machinery and explosives. Mines need compressed air, electrical power, ventilation, dewatering or pumping and backfill distribution.

In a day, a typical underground mine handles a greater mass of ventilating air than ore, The deeper the mine, the more air has to be moved — the ratio of air to ore can be 14-to-1 in the deepest mines. The ventilation engineer maintains up-to-date surveys of the ventilation system to ensure that the workings throughout the mine are kept free of blasting fumes and dust.

Mines are holes in the ground, and any hole that extends below the water table will eventually fill up with water that seeps in by way of fractures or porous rock units in the walls. Mines are designed so that groundwater runs down to sumps to be pumped out.

Trackless electric-hydraulic and diesel equipment are used more and more often in mines. Increased mechanization allows greater flexibility in underground mining, but it also brings a need for more maintenance. Modem mine designs have to include underground garages, fuelling stations, and repair shops.