Equipment Needs to Meet the Challenge of Surface Mining of Coal and Uranium in the Decade Ahead

This paper focuses on the 1975-1985 period in attempting to demonstrate the equipment requirements in the coal and uranium industries for that period. It has been necessary to make a number of far-reaching estimates with regard to future demand for the two commodities, as well as for strip ratios and equipment performance. However, the projections indicate the magnitude, both in terms of quantity and growth potential, of the industry needs and, as such, should provide equipment manufacturers with useful information for the future.

In the coal industry, it appears that both stripping and mining equipment needs will grow at a rate of 10-12%/year in the future. This equipment will not be radically different from that used today even though some increases in size will probably occur in some equipment lines. The emphasis will be upon improvement in present generation machinery. The same may also be true in the uranium industry. Growth rates on the order of perhaps 50%/year will be experienced as the utility industry continues to install plants using nuclear fuels. It appears that most of the equipment will be similar to that used today.