Could water jets be used to cut tunnels?

[russau]

If done right there is no noise in blasting....Lord help you if you were caught by the EPA,using your water deal without the right permits...run off equipt.Fines start at $100,000,and can be per gallon

The EPA has their gall fining ANYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOR ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

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[tamrock]

I saw at the MineExpo back in the early 90's a water jet, proposed to cut slot shaped blast holes. I may even have the info on it out in a box in the garage still?. At those big Mine shows you see all kinds of stuff that looks good, but never really takes off. Traditional mining methods still remain for the most part the way to do it, just the machinery get more advanced. Continuous type mining machines have made more headway in the hardrock mines within the last 30 or so years, but those are really only cost effective where the ground condition are of low compressive strength and softness. This is a rig of one of my customers they use to carve out huge heading, such as subway and highway tunnels. I've sold cap-lamps to outfits that use a smaller rig such as these to carve out wine cellars in the Napa valley. As far as I could tell of the water-jet machine I saw, it looked like it would work in some applications. It really didn't consume a great deal of water either, but excess water in the work area can be solved with a pump. A pneumatic diaphragm pump is the best for that. Funny I just called my other branch to have a 2" diaphragm pump to be sent to my house this morning. I don't think we'll ever stop thinking of new found methods to dig in rock without explosives as that's the future imo, heck I even saw a rock router concept once. It was the same idea as a wood router, but bigger and it could cut square tunnels, oval tunnels, round or what ever shape of tunnel you could think of. I have some ideas in my head now on some possible methods, but I'm more of a dreamer then a man of great ambitions. I'm often called easy money by all the folks I deal with. As for actual mining I've been there done that, Drilled, shot, mucked, bolt and hung wire, drove crib raises, concrete, shotcrete, and timbered, that's a young mans job, but it ain't like it was 40 years ago. Now a miner can listen to his IPod, eat a sandwich and move levers all at ones on a Drill Jumbo and be able to drillout as much as three 12'x12'x16' headings in a 12 hour shift... Fun part of my job is still going underground at so many places over the years it's hard to recall them all now. So many of them have shut down or been mined out over the years.

 

[Mad Machinist]

I saw at the MineExpo back in the early 90's a water jet, proposed to cut slot shaped blast holes. I may even have the info on it out in a box in the garage still?. At those big Mine shows you see all kinds of stuff that looks good, but never really takes off. Traditional mining methods still remain for the most part the way to do it, just the machinery get more advanced. Continuous type mining machines have made more headway in the hardrock mines within the last 30 or so years, but those are really only cost effective where the ground condition are of low compressive strength and softness. This is a rig of one of my customers they use to carve out huge heading, such as subway and highway tunnels. I've sold cap-lamps to outfits that use a smaller rig such as these to carve out wine cellars in the Napa valley. As far as I could tell of the water-jet machine I saw, it looked like it would work in some applications. It really didn't consume a great deal of water either, but excess water in the work area can be solved with a pump. A pneumatic diaphragm pump is the best for that. Funny I just called my other branch to have a 2" diaphragm pump to be sent to my house this morning. I don't think we'll ever stop thinking of new found methods to dig in rock without explosives as that's the future imo, heck I even saw a rock router concept once. It was the same idea as a wood router, but bigger and it could cut square tunnels, oval tunnels, round or what ever shape of tunnel you could think of. I have some ideas in my head now on some possible methods, but I'm more of a dreamer then a man of great ambitions. I'm often called easy money by all the folks I deal with. As for actual mining I've been there done that, Drilled, shot, mucked, bolt and hung wire, drove crib raises, concrete, shotcrete, and timbered, that's a young mans job, but it ain't like it was 40 years ago. Now a miner can listen to his IPod, eat a sandwich and move levers all at ones on a Drill Jumbo and be able to drillout as much as three 12'x12'x16' headings in a 12 hour shift... Fun part of my job is still going underground at so many places over the years it's hard to recall them all now. So many of them have shut down or been mined out over the years.

Nice piece of hardware there.

The water jet concept will never really take off underground except in very limited circumstances. Capital expenditure is high and anytime your dealing with high pressure water equipment it is high maintenance.

Whether anyone likes it or not, the future of mining is trending towards smaller scale mining. So unless type manufacturers start building equipment for the smaller scale stuff again, the drill-blast-muck cycle really isn't going to change much as the capital expenditure is too high for smaller mines.

 

[tamrock]

Nice piece of hardware there.

The water jet concept will never really take off underground except in very limited circumstances. Capital expenditure is high and anytime your dealing with high pressure water equipment it is high maintenance.

Whether anyone likes it or not, the future of mining is trending towards smaller scale mining. So unless type manufacturers start building equipment for the smaller scale stuff again, the drill-blast-muck cycle really isn't going to change much as the capital expenditure is too high for smaller mines.

Atlas Copco is now pushing this little electric over hydraulic jackleg disigned for the small operators. Sound a little whimpy and doesn't penetrate like a Gardner Denver S83 pneumatic, but you won't be needing a bunch of air to run it either. The another factor of this hydraulic drill is, you loose the benefit of fresh air out of the pneumatic machine. I guess just up your ventilation with this Copco drill in a small mine.

 

[Mad Machinist]

Give it a few years. The hammer drills of yesteryear don't hold a candle to the ones today. Could be something as simple as changing the angles on the end of the bit and it could run with the pneumatics.

 

[Mad Machinist]

This is where I see things going for the small scale guy. We're just a "little" behind.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XxCZ25nfdyc

 

[tamrock]

This is where I see things going for the small scale guy. We're just a "little" behind.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XxCZ25nfdyc

TEI Montrose. I know those folks well. I sold them on having Brunner & Lay making all their OEM striking bars for their rock drills back in the 1990s when I worked for B&L. Matter the fact I could sell you this TEI Hydraulic long hole rig with an electric power pack for $50K and that's a good deal. Most the big gold companies like Newmont and Barrick won't buy a TEI, but do more with Sandvik and Atlas Copco machinery. TEI does do well with the mines in South America and Mexico.