Automation of Underground Gold Mine Mining Machinery

Deep underground gold mines are characterised by confined working spaces and complex geological stresses; traditional manual operations pose numerous safety hazards. Full-process automated equipment has therefore become the key means of enhancing quality and ensuring safety underground, with automation technology covering the entire process from tunnelling and support to extraction, hoisting and transport.

Automated tunnelling systems integrate intelligent positioning, real-time monitoring of surrounding rock and integrated operational modules. Tunnelling equipment is fitted with multi-dimensional sensing devices that collect real-time data on tunnel formation and surrounding rock stress, automatically adjusting the tunnelling advance speed and cutting parameters. The equipment can coordinate with muck removal and temporary support operations to achieve continuous, integrated operations, eliminating the need for segmented work stoppages and simplifying the underground construction cycle.

The automated support system utilises intelligent anchor drilling rigs and automatic shotcrete equipment. Relying on an online monitoring system, it assesses the stability of the surrounding rock in real time, automatically adjusting drilling depth and angle whilst precisely controlling grouting pressure and shotcrete thickness. The entire support operation requires no manual close-proximity intervention, significantly reducing the safety risks associated with roof collapses.

Intelligent mining cars are equipped with positioning and navigation, adaptive drilling and safety protection modules. Relying on a remote central control system, they perform unmanned rock drilling and charging. The equipment can autonomously plan operational routes and avoid obstacles automatically, whilst multiple pieces of equipment in the mining area are interconnected and adaptively adjust operational parameters according to the conditions of the ore body.

The underground transport and hoisting systems utilise driverless locomotives and automated conveyor belts, combined with environmental sensing radar for autonomous obstacle avoidance; equipment operating data is uploaded in real time to the central control platform. The entire process is supported by an online fault warning system; should any equipment malfunction, it automatically shuts down and triggers an alarm. Intelligent systems across all work sections coordinate operations, dynamically adjusting transport and hoisting loads according to mining progress, thereby enabling continuous unmanned underground mining.