Impact of rock moisture on truck-and-shovel operation efficiency in placer mining

With the advent of large dump trucks, the truck-and-shovel system has found wide application in placer mining. The increased efforts of truck-and-shovel placer mining was ensured by the higher capacity of trucks and shovels, on the one hand, and by the technological advantages of the truck-and-shovel mining systems, on the other hand. At the same time, despite considerable experience of truck-and-shovel operation, these machines are often employed in unsuitable geological and geotechnical conditions, for instance, in extraction of rocks having an increased moisture. Eventually, the results are the ineffective operation of the machines and the elevated cost of the final product. The goal of this study is the estimate of the impact exerted by the moisture of rocks on the productivity of a truck-and-shovel unit, and the determination of a rational use domain for this machine system. During the research, the stop-watch study of operation of trucks and shovels at watered faces is carried out, the moisture content of rocks is determined, the productivity of the machines is modeled, and the impact of the rock moisture on the truck-and-shovel system performance is assessed. When the moisture of rocks grows by 20 to 30%, the productivity of the machine system drops by 20–30%; at the rock moisture increase by 35–40%, the productivity of the machine system drops by 50–65%. In view of the decrease of the placer gold resources and owing to the buildup of mining in unfavorable conditions, it is critical to use high-capacity mining equipment with higher quality preparation of rocks, including effective preliminary draining of loose deposits.

Dorosh Е. А., Tal'gamer B. L. Impact of rock moisture on truck-and-shovel operation efficiency in placer mining. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2025;(6):40-52. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2025_6_0_40.

E.А. Dorosh, Executive Director, BRM LLC, Irkutsk, Russia, e-mail: egordoros3@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0009-0002-9118-5583,
B.L. Tal'gamer, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, Head of Chair, Irkutsk National Research Technical University, 664074, Irkutsk, Russia, e-mail: talgamer@istu.edu, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1413-0116.

E.A. Dorosh, e-mail: egordoros3@mail.ru.

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