Extraction of quarry sand with an excavator. Types of sand extraction, hydromechanical method

Sand is essential construction material used during the execution of all construction works. Sand, which is of natural origin, is mined in quarries. These are either sandy or sandy-granite mining sites.

According to the conditions of deposits, sand deposits, like other minerals, are divided into the following types of quarries:

Kosogorny.

Flat.

A slope is considered a quarry, which is located on the slope of a hill. They are almost always located high in the mountains and are located above transport interchanges and the surrounding area. Quarry data is always dry type.

In flat-type quarries, sand deposits are located below the earth's surface, or in some situations even below the level groundwater. Quarry data can be both dry and flooded types.

From the sand mining method, quarries are either drained using drainage systems, drainage systems, or watered for the subsequent extraction of this building material.

In water-type quarries, this material is mined in river channels from under water, lakes and other types of reservoirs.

Sand mining carried out in two ways:

Open.

Underwater.

Mining open way the most common. In such mining, excavators, scrapers, dump trucks, cable cars and other mechanisms are used.

In water-type quarries, excavators are used - excavators, draglines, rope scrapers.

Sand is mined through explosions. Such work makes it possible to separate the rock from the rock masses by crushing and crushing to the required fineness.

Sand deposits are often hidden under a layer of soil, clay and other rocks. These layers are called overburden. The ratio of the volume of the layer to the volume of minerals is the stripping ratio.

Stripping works are carried out in order to avoid additional contamination of sand with various impurities.

In addition to the above methods of sand development, there is the most productive method of extraction - hydromechanical.

This method is used not only in the extraction of sand from the bottom of rivers or other types of reservoirs, but also in flooded flat-type quarries.

Sand deposits that are located above the water level may be developed using hydromonitors. They are tubular barrels with a conical type profile and a thin nozzle at the end. Fluid supplied pumping stations from nearby reservoirs, is thrown out by means of a hydromonitor in a very dense jet at a significant pressure.

Downhole monitors wash away sand deposits. The pulp formed in this way flows by gravity into the hydraulic dumps, if the necessary slope is provided. In other situations, sand is transported by means of dredgers through special pipelines.

Such mechanisms, which are used in mining, are able to crush even very hard rocks with their water jet. Very little pressure is enough to develop sand.

In the modern world, the construction of buildings, from small private houses to colossal skyscrapers, has long been put on stream. Technology allows you to build houses quickly and efficiently, providing personal housing, a workplace or just a building for entertainment for all of humanity. But, no matter how far current progress has gone, one of the main components for construction is still the most common sand.

Yes, it cannot be said that this is a rare material. You can meet him just walking down the street. Can be seen in playgrounds. Naturally, it is enough on the beaches. But where does the sand come from in the first place? How and where is it mined? Consider in our article the answers to these questions.

What is sand

Sand is a loose sedimentary rock, which is the most popular non-ore building material. The size of one grain of sand varies from 0.16 to 5 mm. This material is formed during the destruction of rocks. Most often, sand is almost entirely composed of a substance called silicon dioxide (chemical formula - SiO 2). It is also called silica. There are white, yellow and even black sands. The latter, by the way, may differ in radioactivity, so their use is dangerous for industrial and domestic needs.

Differences by place of extraction

In terms of large-scale sand mining locations, there are two main types - river and quarry. Quarry sand is mined in quarries, and even though mining is carried out in really large volumes, such raw materials cannot boast of a special initial quality.

Another thing is river sand. Based on the name, it is mined in rivers, getting it from the bottom. The quality of this sand is noticeably different - there are no large inclusions of extra elements and clay impurities.

Sand mining methods

In the vast majority of cases, sand is mined in one of two ways. In the case of quarry sand, an open method is used. By the way, it is cheaper than the second one and does not require much equipment.

Before the start of sand mining in an open way, stripping operations are carried out at the mining site. Simply put, the top layer of the earth is simply removed in order to minimize unnecessary impurities in the composition of the extracted raw materials. The work is carried out thanks to a scraper and a bulldozer. Then, having completed the trenches and paved the way for the equipment, the mining process begins. One way or another, but the resulting raw materials cannot be called high-quality, because the resulting sand is also subject to purification from various impurities in different ways.

The second way is hydromechanical. It is used during the extraction of sand from river beds. To implement this method, a pontoon or a specially equipped vessel is required. They are necessary so that anchors and cables with mining equipment are securely fixed on the surface of the river. The algorithm is as follows: down into the water, a powerful pump is lowered along with a loosening device. The device “beats up” the treated surface, and the pump, in turn, sucks the pulp (a combination of sand and water) into the hydraulic dumps. There, sand is already filtered from excess impurities, and water flows back into the river.

Thus, the second method not only does not harm environment(after all, the water is returned to the river, no drainage), but it also allows you to get sand more High Quality. The only disadvantages of this method are its slower speed compared to the first one, as well as its higher cost.

If you plan to buy sand for your own purposes, carefully study the documents for your purchase. Pay special attention to GOSTs of sand. Not every one of them is suitable for construction, or vice versa - for decorative work.

Sand mining in Russia

In the world, unlike minerals, just a titanic amount of sand is used per year along with gravel - 40 billion tons per year. In Russia itself, the Voronezh, Leningrad, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Smolensk regions can boast the most voluminous sand deposits. Specifically, sea and river types of sand are found in the Azov region, near the Gulf of Finland, the Neva, and also in the Leningrad region.

The Eganovskoye deposit, located not far from the Ramenskoye station, is interesting because quartz sands are being mined there.

Hundreds of vehicles, as well as trains railway transport daily move thousands of tons of sand around the country from sand pits and riverbeds to factories, industrial sites and other "thirsty".

Sand application

Sand is a very important building material. Therefore, the extraction of construction sand is necessary to create such things as cement, bricks, plaster, concrete. It is also used as an abrasive material for surface treatment. Sand is a fundamental element for the glass industry, because it is thanks to silica that we have glass in the windows and mirrors on the walls. Sand is also used in its pure form to create various embankments, in the construction of roads and as a decorative element for decorating the facades of private houses, summer cottages, playgrounds and as a “cover” for artificial beaches.

The Moscow region is a region rich in deposits of sand and gravel-pebble material, which is a valuable building material. The development of a quarry, which is associated with the extraction of these minerals, requires constant, diverse engineering support. The company "GeoGIS" provides enterprises whose field of activity is the development of gravel and sand pits, as well as the extraction of other rocks, various geodetic and geological services.

Quarry development and mine surveying

Any mining operations, which include the development of a quarry:

quartz and polymictic (consisting of different minerals) sands;

gravel and sand-gravel mixture (SGM);

• clays and loams;

  other soil materials, -

cannot be technically competently planned and carried out without geodetic surveying control and management of the mining process mineral resources. Our company is one of recognized leaders in the field of mine surveying and provides its numerous clients with qualified assistance at all stages of open pit mining:

• during exploration;
• when agreeing on a quarry (including if it is planned to develop a quarry on agricultural land);
• when designing a quarry;
• during its arrangement and preparation for operation;
• throughout the entire period of operation of the field;
• at the stage of liquidation activities, when the extracted resources are coming to an end.

Development of gravel and sand pits - geological support

The development of a quarry for the extraction of sand or gravel cannot be started until its justification has been made, including geological exploration and an assessment of the reserves of the productive horizon. Equally important are the geological studies carried out by our company at the stage when the industrial development of gravel and sand pits has already begun. The main task of geo-support for the development of an AGM quarry is operational exploration, which allows optimizing the mining process and minimizing the non-productive costs of the quarry owner. Experienced engineers-geologists of "GeoGIS", who have successfully maintained more than one open pit development in many areas of the Moscow region, will provide you with:

• operational assessment of changes in the conditions of occurrence of a productive formation, for the sake of production from which the field is being operated;
• regular sampling and analysis of the extracted resource (this is especially important if the development of a sand pit is not for construction purposes, but for the sake of providing valuable mineral raw materials to the glass industry or extracting valuable microimpurities from sand);
• geological justification for the increment of the reserves of the operated field and the further expansion of your open pit.

The cost of geological surveys for quarrying

How does the development of a sand pit by our specialists begin?

1. The development of sand pits begins with the breakdown of reference surveying networks, which will later become the geodetic basis for any measurements and engineering calculations that are constantly needed during the development of a sand pit by an open pit.
2. If the sand layer is covered from the surface by other geological deposits that are not of industrial value, then before the main development begins, we need to geodesically provide overburden preparatory work:
   • careful removal of the soil and vegetation layer (this layer will subsequently be useful for the reclamation of waste areas, which is provided for by the current environmental legislation);
   • removal, according to mine surveying markings, of layers that interfere with direct access to the target sand layer.
3. After the completion of the preparatory stage, our tasks include: to outline the primary direction of mine workings, to designate the places and positions of mining equipment (quarry excavators, conveyors, etc.).

The development of a gravel pit is organized according to the same scheme.

Features of the development of stone quarries

Unlike deposits of sand and gravel, which are loose rocks, the development of stone quarries requires a special approach. To obtain the crushed stone necessary in large volumes for the construction of various facilities in Moscow and the Moscow Region, much more effort is required. With the exception of those rare places where solid rocky soils have been finely crushed by natural processes, the development of a crushed stone quarry requires the use of very powerful rock cutting equipment or regular drilling and blasting technological operations.

Attention! Mining support for this kind of work is a very serious task, and not everyone can be trusted with it. Our surveyors undergo special training, strict testing of knowledge and skills in this area, so we can guarantee that the development of stone quarries entrusted to GeoGIS is carried out in compliance with all safety requirements and principles of rational mining.

Current work on engineering support for the development of crushed stone and ASG quarries

At a quarry that has been put into operation, the initial stage of organization of which has been successfully overcome and stable work has been established, our mine surveyors provide:

obtaining, on the basis of regular mine surveying, up-to-date data on the shape and condition of the quarry;

carrying out balance calculations related to the development of soil in a quarry (the ratio of explored reserves, extracted volumes, irretrievable technological losses);

monitoring the mining and geological specifics of the deposit, the completeness of the extraction of the contents of the developed reservoir;

preparation and timely updating of mining plans;

protection of engineering structures from the adverse effects of quarrying (by predicting the movements of soil masses, developing organizational and technical measures to prevent them).

Liquidation mine surveying in the development of a sand pit open pit

Preparing for the closure and liquidation of a quarry is a rather troublesome job. If you do not want to be among the violators of the requirements of land and environmental legislation, we recommend using the services of our company for:

carrying out final survey work, completing the development of sand pits;

checking and filling out the working mine surveying documentation for quarry development;

registration of geodetic and geological materials to be archived.

High business reputation of our company in the market of engineering geodetic and geological services, achieved due to excellent technical equipment and concentration of highly qualified specialists in various professional fields- the key to a successful solution of your problems related to the opening and operation of open-pit mine workings.

Sand is a finely fragmented fraction of rocky rocks. It is formed in natural conditions under the influence of long-term natural factors or obtained artificially. And a dredger helps to extract it.

Sand is essential material used in many industries.

This is a component of cement mortars and concretes in the production of building materials and the construction of buildings and structures, a necessary component in road construction.

Sand is the main raw material in the production of glass and ceramics, and is part of the molding sands in the foundry industry.

Sand lies at the bottom of bodies of water, from oceans and seas to rivers and streams; it makes up a large part of the land subsurface of the planet.

Industrial sand mining is carried out both by enterprises specializing in this activity and by large construction companies for the needs of production. Associated mining of gravel, sand and clay is carried out by many mining enterprises.

Sand mining methods

Sand is part of the subsoil, so it’s not enough to buy a dump truck and an excavator or a dredger to extract it; a license for the right to use subsoil is required separately for each object. Otherwise, such activity will be regarded as illegal sand mining.

A license is not required only for enterprises that do this within the boundaries of a mining or geological allotment of land. Homestead and garden owners land plots extraction of gravel sand and clay on their sites is allowed; no license required.

Extraction of washed sand with an excavator

Sand is mined in several ways, for this they use:

Mining enterprises that mine along with ore and rocky waste rock are often engaged in the production of crushed stone. The installations used for this (crushing and screening complexes) distinguish, among others, a fine fraction - sand.

Gold-mining enterprises and artels developing alluvial deposits of gold-bearing sands simultaneously sell that part of the sand that does not contain precious metal.

Dry quarry method

The development of a deposit begins with stripping. Trees and shrubs are cut down, the fertile soil layer (overburden) and waste rock are removed by bulldozers or frontal loaders to the sandy layer. Work in a quarry is carried out according to a project that provides for convenient and safe work. Alternating layers of sand and waste rock are removed by excavators and transported separately.

Quarry method of sand extraction

For the extraction of sand in quarries, two methods of excavation are used:

• riding excavation, when an excavator equipped with a dragline scoops material from below from the top platform, lifts it up and loads it into a vehicle;
• bottom notch; an excavator or loader is located at the bottom of the quarry and loads the material into the transport descending along the ring road.

Hydromechanical method

It is used in the presence of a reservoir near the deposit for the intake and discharge of water. In this case, the license for the right to use subsoil must be supplemented by the execution of a decision on the right to use the water body.

Instead of drilling and blasting and excavators, the rock mass is washed away with a high-pressure water jet. Water is supplied for washing out by a high-pressure pump through a hose connected to the monitor. A hydromonitor is a nozzle mounted on a frame, to which water is supplied. The operator sets the direction of the jet by turning the monitor by the handles.

Water mixed with sand (pulp) by gravity or sand pumps moves to settling tanks (hydraulic dumps), where it settles. The water is returned to the reservoir, the sand is dehydrated and dried.

This extraction method is the most productive. Sand in the process of extraction is well washed from clay inclusions and has an increased value.

Extraction of river sand

Dry riverbeds are the most convenient for excavating sand. Loading and transportation are required, as well as finishing operations - washing from silt and foreign inclusions and dehydration. The need for a license for sand mining remains.

Extraction of river sand

In reservoirs, sand is extracted using a dredger - a vessel of a special design. There are several types of dredgers to extract sands of varying hardness; extraction of sand from the bottom of reservoirs is carried out mainly by suction dredgers, and only for the most compacted ones are scoop dredgers used. To accumulate the extracted sand, the hold of a dredger or a barge is used.

The suction dredger pumps sand from the bottom of the reservoir with a wear-resistant pump and loads it onto a barge or into its hold. The scoop dredger performs the same function with scoops in harder sands.

After filling the hold or barge with material, the ship moves to the riverside warehouse and the sand is reloaded into storage compartments or into vehicles. Portal cranes with grabs or conveyors are used for reloading from the hold of a dredger or from a barge.

On the shore, the sand is washed from silt and shells, then dried to the standard humidity.

artificial sand

Sand is a sedimentary rock, as well as an artificial material consisting of rock grains.

Natural sand is, in principle, a finite resource, although it will be enough on the planet for a long time. However, it is possible to replace natural sand with artificial sand.

We are talking about the most massive industrial waste in terms of quantity - waste from wet enrichment (tailings) and slag from metallurgical production.

Tailings of ore concentration stored in huge number, for use instead of sand do not require any processing; only the same operations are needed as with sands in dry riverbeds. Watered storages can be handled by a dredger.

Regarding slags, it is necessary to expand and improve the processes for their processing when they are released from metallurgical units. Their water and air granulation in molten form will make it possible to obtain particles with a size and hardness that do not differ from the properties of natural sand.

Video: Sand extraction with a submersible pump

Carrying out construction work, regardless of their complexity, requires the presence of high-quality sand. This building material is of natural origin and is mined in special quarries. Due to its immense popularity, every specialist involved in the construction industry should know how sand is mined. With such knowledge, one can assess the relevance of its application for a particular type of construction!

Basic characteristics

In its natural form, it is a sedimentary rock and in most cases consists of natural mineral quartz. By composition and origin, it can be divided into several types:

1. Natural, mined through the destruction and subsequent grinding of natural rocks to the state of a homogeneous substance from small grains;
2. Arising from natural phenomena: raw materials belonging to this species can be divided into alluvial, deluvial, marine, lacustrine and ash;
3. Heavy artificial, resulting from the deliberate loosening and crushing of various hard mineral rocks. In this case, a substance with different grain size and fineness is obtained.

When used for construction purposes, it is important to know where the sand is mined, how it is processed, and other characteristics.

Main mining and processing methods

To understand how they get it, you should study the main sources of its production.

1. River. The most common building material that is mined near riverbeds or from the bottom of rivers and reservoirs. Differs in extreme purity and lack of impurity, clay deposits and small stones;
2. Career. There are two varieties: washed and seeded. In the first case, it is extracted by digging quarries and subsequent crushing of the resulting raw material by washing and cleaning from various impurities and deposits. The second option involves drying and further sieving, which allows you to rid the raw material of harmful impurities.
3. Naturally educated. current legislation it is determined that such raw materials can be classified as bulk materials of inorganic origin. According to GOST, it has special requirements for grain size and fineness.

The material mined in special deposits is different from the raw materials from places where river sand is mined. Considering that one type or another may be required for various repair and construction work, special attention should be paid to the choice.

High-quality building materials from the company "Inert Group"

Over the years of successful activity in the segment of the supply of high-quality construction consumables, we have managed to establish ourselves as one of the best partners for private or large-scale construction, offering high-quality materials at the best prices!