Performance Appraisal of Dragline Mining in India

Draglines have been abundantly used in coal mining for decades, either as stripper or stripper and coal extractor. As this equipment possesses certain inherent advantages, which their rivals do not, they must be operated in a round-the-clock fashion for high productivity and low costs. In India, the development of giant surface mining ventures like Bina and Jayant with setting up of higher coal production targets (upto 10 million tonnes per annum) calls for systems to remove large volume of overburden in shortest possible time. This has resulted in major changes in overburden/interburden excavation technology in surface coal mines from shovel mining to that of draglines. Coal India Limited (CIL) has now standardized the draglines in two sizes, which are 10/70 and 24/96 for their mines. Most mines depend on the dragline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In many coal mines, it is the only primary stripping tool and the mine's output is totally dependent on the dragline’s performance. For these reasons, dragline design requires emphasis placed on developing component’s with high levels of reliability and predictability so that repairs and replacement of components can be scheduled at times that will least affect the overall mining operation. Prior to deploying draglines in mines, various factors have to be considered for selection of suitable size. Different parameters are used to determine the production and productivity of draglines. In this thesis these points are discussed in detail