Predicting "cuttability" with surface miners - A rockmass classification approach

Abstract

Surface miners made their debut in Indian surface mining industry in 1996. Presently, around 105 surface miners are working in Indian coal and limestone mines. The surface miners are being deployed largely on trial and error basis and the investors are interested in field experimental runs. Manufacturers evaluate the applicability of surface miners based on compressive strength of rock. In this context, it is logical to establish a suitable cuttability index to predict the performance of surface miners. In this present paper, the existing cuttability indices are reviewed and a new cuttability index proposed. A new relationship is also proposed to predict the output from surface miners using the cuttability index.