Productivity And Equipment Selection In Surface Mining Of Oil Sands

A variety of mining equipment is used in the mining of oil sands by surface mining. This includes bucket wheel excavators, draglines, hydraulic shovels and off-highway trucks. This paper examines the existing mining schemes and equipment used Peculiarities of oil sands surface mining and their influence on equipment selection, utilization and mining schemes are described. Recent developments undertaken to improve mine productivity are also dealt with together with some notes on proposed measures to obtain further gains in productivity.