Technological and Economic Analysis of the Application of Surface Miner on the Example of a Limestone Deposit in Poland

Mining a deposit utilizing surface miner is very popular in many countries. Presently, a surface miner has also experimented with extracting different deposits: bauxite, hematite, sandstone, shale etc. Surface miners can completely eliminate drilling and blasting operation and primary crushing unit, thus reducing their associated environmental hazards. Apart from this, the sized excavated material increases transport or conveying efficiency and saves the energy requirement in processing. So far, these machines have not been used in Poland. To evaluate this technology, tests were carried out on one of the limestone deposit in Poland. During these tests, basic parameters of efficiency, output quantity and mining costs were defined. The conducted tests have shown that this technology cannot be used in all geological and mining conditions. Therefore, the article presents the advantages and disadvantages of using surface miner, taking into account the Polish geological and mining conditions.