Automated Rotary Car Dumps and Ore Hoists at the San Manuel Mine

The degree of automation that has evolved in the dumping and hoisting of ore at the 3A and 3B hoisting shafts of the San Manuel mine is discussed. Motormen underground now dump their own trains at shaft pockets with rotary car dumps which operate semiautomatically. The ore is then drawn out of the 1200-ton shaft pockets into measuring baskets in skip loading stations, loaded into bottom-dump skips, hoisted, and dumped into coarse ore bins on the surface, in a fully automated operation. In an underground control room on the 2075 level midway between 3A and 3B shafts, car dumping, skip loading, and hoisting systems are monitored on lighted control panels which mimic each step in the operation. Here skip loading and dumping are viewed on closed-circuit television.