ABSTRACT
The term “unit operations” refers to the drilling, blasting, loading and hauling processes utilized in the extraction of an ore body. In their presentation, the authors have focused on the application of ANFO, rotary drilling, rope shovel loading and truck haulage. The reader is encouraged to further explore the various topics by referring to books such as “SME Mining Engineering Handbook, 3rd Edition” (SME, 2011), “The Blasters’ Handbook” (ISEE, 2011) and “Blasting Principles for Open Pit Mining” (Hustrulid, 1999) as well as in the materials developed by equipment suppliers. The “Caterpillar Performance Handbook (Caterpillar, 2012)”, the “Komatsu Specifications and Application Handbook (Komatsu, 2009)” and the “Blasthole Drilling in Open Pit Mining (Atlas Copco, 2011)” are excellent examples of the latter. The “Handbooks” may be located in pdf versions on their respective websites.
