ABSTRACT
Respirable dust poses serious long-term health issues to personnel working in mining and civil projects where mechanized mining and tunneling machines are used for rock excavation. These machines, such as longwall shearers, roadheaders, and continuous miners use picks to cut rock. However, dust is generated each time the pick tip contacts the rock surface, contributing to the respirable dust in the work environment immediately at the rock surface, or further down in production, such as at transfer points. The purpose of this study is to characterize respirable dust particles generated at the pick tip at various stages of pick life, such as new, moderately worn, and worn-out. Understanding how much dust is generated and characteristics of dust particles in terms of size distribution, shape, and mineralogy throughout the life-cycle of the pick will provide a basis to mine and tunnel operators for changing out picks to mitigate dust generation at the source. This paper discusses the findings of size distribution, shape, and mineralogical characteristics of the dust samples from full scale cutting of an igneous rock block cut with picks at new and moderately worn levels of wear.
