Aligned with mining operations’ objective to improve mining advance rates, reduce the total cost of moving mined material and shorten loading and changeover times, mining equipment provider Hurst Mine Tec offers original-equipment manufacturer Inter Techno Commercial’s continuous loading machine, which works to load ore continuously and transfers it by integrated conveyor directly into a haulage vehicle.

“Instead of relying on repeated scoop-and-tram movements between the face and a truck, the loader remains focused on collecting and transferring material,” says Hurst Mine Tec director Frank Hurst.

Depending on the application, the machines can be fitted with loading buckets, breakers or cutting attachments and can operate on both diesel or electricity, depending on what the customer chooses.

The machines can also be paired with purpose-built bi-directional haul trucks from mining machinery manufacturer PAUS to improve efficiency by enabling coordinated flow between face loading and haulage.

With this combination, each truck approaches the loading position, receives material continuously and departs in the opposite direction without needing a turning bay. The next truck then moves into position to keep the loader operating as productively as possible.

“The value lies in treating the loader and trucks as one production system that balances truck payload, loading rate, haul distance and fleet size to reduce waiting time, improve use and minimise unnecessary excavation,” says Hurst.

This system combines direct truck loading, cleaning and scaling in one machine, thereby removing the need for multiple specialised units and lowering upfront investment. It also operates without muck bays, which reduces excavation, construction and auxiliary blasting requirements, thereby lowering costs and scheduling time.

Lowering Costs, Improving Integration
By reducing load-haul-dump movement and enabling electrified work at a mine’s face, the system reduces diesel consumption which, in turn, lowers ventilation demand in underground mines and reduces maintenance expenditure, consequently improving the system’s overall cost on each metre advanced.

Hurst adds that the streamlined process also improves safety by reducing unnecessary machine traffic and lessening the likelihood of human-vehicle interaction, thereby contributing to a safer working environment and supporting compliance with safety standards.

However, he cautions that cycle-time, advance-rate and cost figures are highly site-specific and commercially sensitive metrics, as these figures depend on fragmentation, heading dimensions, haul distance, gradient, shift discipline and equipment availability.

Nonetheless, despite the continous loading machine’s advantages, Hurst notes that mining operations are apprehensive to change pre-existing mining methods, pointing out that operations have to justify new capital expenditure, train operators and artisans on new equipment, secure spares, adapt procedures and build confidence that a new system will perform consistently before they make a decision to change.

“If mechanised equipment is introduced without reviewing the complete cycle, poor fragmentation, traffic congestion, insufficient maintenance capacity or an unsuitable mine layout can prevent the expected benefit from being realised,” he says.

Hurst Mine Tec addresses these concerns through a staged, evidence-based process that starts with an application study, resulting in drawings to visualise the moveability in the given tunnel envelope, cycle time calculations and machine-based risk assessments, where possible.

The company then defines the equipment configuration and infrastructure requirements alongside providing training and spare-parts packages to support professional servicing and reliable machine operation.

Through its partnership with Inter Techno Commercial, Hurst Mine Tec also offers the option to rent the ITC machine for a trial period, enabling customers to become familiar with its operating principles and integrate it into the overall mining and drill-and-blast cycle, thereby reducing upfront capital risk and lowering internal approval barriers.

“With this possibility we are currently in advanced discussions with two different South African mines for trials of the machine in the upcoming months,” says Hurst.

Mechanisation Future
Given that mines are under pressure to improve safety, reduce dilution, control costs and lower emissions while also accessing deeper or more complex orebodies, Hurst expects increased integration of equipment that can operate in smaller headings, exchange modular attachments, provide operating data and work with electric or lower-emission technologies.

He explains that progress in this regard will be gradual and site-specific, with successful mines mechanising equipment selectively, matching technology to geology and building systems that are productive and maintainable.

“Mechanisation should not be measured by the size or sophistication of a machine, but by the value created across the complete mining cycle. The right solution is the one that fits the orebody, the excavation, the people and the operating model,” Hurst concludes.