According to a market study from Technavio, the global underground mining equipment market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 4% from 2017 to 2021.

The report categorizes the global underground mining equipment market into the following type of application segments:

• Room and pillar mining
• Longwall mining
• Borehole mining
• Others

Room and pillar mining

Room and pillar mining is a type of underground mining technique wherein the mined material is mined across a horizontal plane. This creates horizontal arrays of rooms and pillars. The ore in concern in this type of mining is extracted in two phases. In the first phase, the pillars of untouched material are used to support the roof overburden. The remaining open areas are extracted underground and then the pillars are partially extracted. Room and pillar mining is usually done for relatively flat-lying deposits.

According to Gaurav Mohindru, a lead analyst at Technavio for construction research, “Room and pillar mining is typically used to extract iron, coal and base metal ores. Typical equipment used in this type of mining comprises of haulage machines, mining drills, continuous miners, roof bolters and scoops.”

Longwall mining

Typical equipment used in longwall mining are shearers, plow systems, conveyor and longwall face bolters. The longwall mining method is more safe and productive than room and pillar mining because most of the activities are automated. Automation reduces the requirement of manpower to extract materials, thereby lowering the risk to human health and safety. Owing to high automation in longwall mining, mining activities take less time to complete. This results in low overall cost of operations.

“High demand for coal coupled with the increase in popularity of safe mining techniques is expected to drive the demand for longwall mining during the forecast period,” Mohindru said. “Further, the high level of automation involved in longwall mining reduces labor requirement and consequently the operational costs for mining companies. Cost-benefits and enhanced safety associated with longwall mining is expected to increase its popularity.”

Borehole mining

Borehole mining (BHM) is a type of underground mining technique. It is a remotely operated method of extracting underground mineral resources by digging boreholes and then using high-pressure water jets to extract minerals. In borehole mining, a borehole is drilled from a land surface to the desired depth. A casing column is then lowered down the hole. This is followed by the descent of the BHM tool.

The key advantages of BHM are mobility, selectivity, low environmental impact, low capital cost and the ability to work in hazardous and dangerous conditions. BHM is used to mine natural resources such as iron ore, phosphate, gravel uranium, coal, poly-metallic ores gold, diamonds, rare earth quartz sand and amber.