Applications and uses of surface miners

Surface miners are highly productive machines used for a variety of applications - including continuous surface mining, extracting aggregates from a quarry, site preparation for civil construction, soil remediation, and road demolition and construction. Let's explore the productivity advantages surface miners can offer across a variety of applications:
  • Creates a near-vertical highwall.
  • Creates square corners.
  • Tackles uneven jobsite terrain because the machine's low center of gravity provides stability and maneuverability.
  • Produces a usable product for backfilling and road bedding.
  • Can work next to existing infrastructure.
  • Can follow a 3D mining plan accurately.
Let's dig further into specific use cases.

Surface mining and quarry applications

Civil construction and site preparation applications

Surface mining and quarry applications

See how surface miners can support mining and quarry mining methods.

Mine material

Pairing with or replacing drill and blast maximizes material access and optimizes particles size.

Create highwall

Create optimal 80- or 90-degree highwalls with designated attachments.

Haul roads

Ability to create haul roads demonstrates the versatility of the machine.

Efficiencies over drill and blast

“Overall, using [surface miners] is more cost efficient than drilling and blasting for our operation. We are saving on labor expenses and have been able to reduce the number of times that material has to be handled.”

– Rui Shiliang, executive personal assistant to the president of the Winning International Group

Civil construction and site preparation applications

How to get even more value and use from surface miners:

  • Cutting canals and building islands.
  • Foundations for buildings, retention ponds, water spillways and golf courses.
  • Developing new communities.
  • Reclaiming mines.
  • Lowering tunnel floors.
  • Completing highway and runway demolition.

Being a better neighbor

“It's a precision rock excavating machine that is much quieter and produces less vibration than other methods. By using the [surface miner], we knew we could work closer to buildings, do an effective job of dust containment and produce more manageable-sized material that would be convenient to haul away and could be reused.”

– Gordon Polidano, manager of production operations for Polidano Group


Surface miner case studies

Compagnie Des Bauxites De Guinée (CBG)

Learn how how Compagnie Des Bauxites De Guinée (CBG) produces MORE bauxite per year with the Vermeer T1255 surface miner.

See how