A detailed production report from the Sokolsko-Sitovskoye flux limestone quarry, located a couple of kilometers northeast of Lipetsk. Under the cut are large excavators, BelAZ trucks, a factory, conveyors, an explosion and much more...
1. Some official data: The quarry is being developed by Studenovskaya Joint-Stock Mining Company, currently a member of the NLMK Group and one of the Russian leaders in the production of flux limestone, used mainly in the metallurgical industry and construction.
2. Mining volumes account for more than 15% of the mined flux limestone in Russia.
3. The dimensions of the quarry are impressive: 1500x500 meters, and the depth is 50 meters. Here you can easily build more than 10 football fields or lay a track for Formula 1... 
Enlarge Image
4. According to geologists, the reserves of raw materials in the quarry at the current capacity will be enough for at least 30 years of operation. 
Enlarge Image
5. Limestone is a widespread sedimentary rock formed with the participation of living organisms in marine basins. Once upon a time, approximately 350-370 million years ago, in the Devonian period of the Paleozoic era, the Lipetsk region, like many regions of the central part of Russia, was a sea. Often in the fragments of the rock you can find fossil remains of the ancient life of those years ...
6. The field is being developed open way. Technological process mining can be divided into the following main types of work:
Stripping works
mining operations
Dumping and mining reclamation
Transport work
Mineral processing 
Enlarge Image
7.
Overburden works.
First, using a bulldozer or loader, remove the top fertile layer soils - chernozem, and store it for the subsequent reclamation of lands disturbed by mining. This is followed by a clay layer with a thickness of about 20 meters, which is worked out by electric excavators with a bucket capacity of 8-10 cubic meters. Overburden works also include partial sampling of substandard (poor quality) limestone, which is located directly under the clay layer.
8. This photo clearly shows a section of the “quarry pie”: a layer of clay, a layer of substandard limestone and an even ledge of a mineral. The crumbling hill of limestone under the ledge is a consequence of the explosion. It is precisely these “consequences of the cry” that are loaded into BelAZ trucks and taken to the factory. And all overburden rocks are taken to the internal dump. 
Enlarge Image
9.
Mining work.
It is customary for miners to say production, with an emphasis on the first syllable. Limestone mining itself is preceded by drilling and blasting - the most spectacular part of the whole process.
10. A hard layer of limestone, which cannot be scooped up with an excavator bucket, has to be drilled, explosive materials are placed in it and blown up. For drilling, drilling rigs of the SBR type, powered by electricity, are used.
11. Drilling rigs are serious, they drill holes with a diameter of 16 cm to a depth of up to 24 meters (7 floors). It takes 50 minutes to drill one well. A string of wells, elongated in a line, is drilled one by one 5 meters from the edge of the cliff.
12. Brave driller!
13. For the explosion use industrial and conversion explosives, for the acquisition of which you need a whole bunch of various permits and licenses, as well as special vehicles for transportation and armed guards. You can't just buy gunpowder at the market ...
14. TNT checkers serve as a detonator.
15. On average, about 30 wells are drilled to carry out one explosion, where a total of 5-6 tons of explosives are laid.
16. To connect all the wells with explosives into a single circuit, a detonating cord is used.
17. An explosion is a very responsible matter! The quarry is completely cordoned off, guards are posted in the area of the future explosion. All equipment is taken to a safe distance, and BelAZ vehicles generally leave the quarry. Before the explosion, all cordon posts are polled by radio and the situation is clarified. If everything is fine, permission is given to carry out blasting. (The security post and the transformer box are also being taken away).
18. The wells are not blown up simultaneously, but with a delay of several hundredths of a second, otherwise there will be an earthquake, and most of the buildings in Lipetsk will have windows blown out.
19. For a sense of scale - on the right side of the frame there is an excavator the size of a 4-story building ... Small pieces of rock can fly away to a distance comparable to the height of the main building of Moscow State University - 250 meters.
20. It can be seen how heavy pieces of hard rock are separated from the ledge in even rows and fall down.
21. The whole explosion passes in a few seconds and is well heard in the city. This is what collapsed rock looks like. After the smoke clears and the dust settles, the explosives will check for failed charges, after which the excavators and BelAZ trucks will go about their work.
22. The rock is loaded into BelAZ using a mechanical shovel (that is, an excavator), or rather, using a self-propelled full-turn excavation and loading machine. This monster runs on 6000 volt electricity, the photo shows a high-voltage cable that powers the excavator's engines. During a day of operation, the machine consumes as much energy as an ordinary nine-story residential building in a week.
23. At one time, the excavator can load 10 ordinary photographers, or 20 Chinese photographers.
25. The weight of such a bucket is 16 tons.
26. Each excavator employs two people to ensure the continuity of the production process.
27. In total, 6 large excavators (bucket with a volume of 8 and 10 cubic meters) and 2 smaller ones with a bucket volume of about 5 cubic meters work in the quarry.
28. Sometimes appliances break down. For example, the main gear of this excavator has failed and it is being repaired right in the quarry. The diameter of limply hanging steel ropes is 4 cm.
29. And this is a now decommissioned veteran who honestly gave the enterprise about 40 years. Despite his considerable age and shabby appearance, grandfather, in case of emergency, can be taken to work in a quarry.
30.
Dumping and mining reclamation.
At a constant depth, the quarry bowl constantly moves in the direction along which the limestone occurs. On one side of the quarry, overburden is removed and limestone is mined, on the other, the mined-out space is filled with overburden, limestone crushing screenings and black soil. 
Enlarge Image
32. Screenings are brought from the crushing and processing plant in dump cars, which are formed after limestone crushing and are not suitable for use. The excavator dumps everything on the dump, filling the mined-out space of the quarry. Then the dumps will be covered with previously opened soil and top with black soil.
33. This mechanical shovel is smaller - with a bucket for 5 cubes.
34. Next, plowing of the land is carried out and biological reclamation is carried out - the sowing of land with useful plants. In a few years, the recultivated lands can be used again for agricultural purposes. Previously, the quarry started right from the landings (on the right in the frame) and has shifted 600 meters in 20 years. Now there is a field. In the future, the quarry may advance another 2.7 kilometers.
35.
Transport work.
Every day, 12 BelAZ trucks operate on the line in the quarry, which ensure the transportation of overburden rock to dumps, and the mined limestone to the DOF - to the crushing and processing plant.
36. Belazists work around the clock in three shifts, eight hours each. During the day, BelAZ makes up to 100 walkers, and transports up to 16 thousand tons of mined limestone. In three months, the car runs the distance from Moscow to Vladivostok.
37. The carrying capacity of such a BelAZ is 55 tons, more than its own weight. BelAZ trucks with a higher carrying capacity in this quarry are not advisable to use for several reasons: the depth of the quarry, the distance of transportation, the volume of production, and so on. This baby mammoth is powered by a 700 hp diesel engine.
38. If during transportation from BelAZ something falls out onto the road, for example big Stone, a special wheeled bulldozer will take it back to the face, to the excavator.
39. They actively fight dust in the quarry, the roads are constantly doused with a special watering can. And in winter, watering is replaced by sprinkling with a sand-salt mixture.
40. To take this shot, I had to ask the driver on the radio (each piece of equipment in the quarry is equipped with a radio station) to drive outside the watered road. The permissible speed in the quarry is 20 km/h.
41. The quarry has 14 km of technological roads built in bulk, there are also electrification and substations to power excavators. The roads are excellent, you can easily move on them by car.
42. Shop for the repair and maintenance of BelAZ.
44. The body and engine were removed from this BelAZ.
45. The mined mineral is brought to the DOF and unloaded into the receiving bunker, before that the dump truck is weighed and by simply subtracting the weight of the empty BelAZ, the weight of the cargo is obtained.
46. Receiving hopper.
47.
Mineral processing.
This is the first building of the factory - the building of coarse crushing. Here, the jaw crusher rough crushes large pieces of rock. Fractions up to 10 cm in size are obtained.
49. Approximately 15,000 tons of rock are transported on a conveyor belt per day.
50. Cone crusher performs medium crushing.
51. Cunning system of vibrating screens. In closed devices, the products are divided into fractions (according to the size of the stones) and distributed along the conveyors.
52. An ordinary five-story house can easily fit in the workshop ...
53. Quite small limestone - screenings up to 1 cm are sent for unloading into dump cars for subsequent transportation to the quarry dump.
54. Corps of sorting and loading. The finished product is delivered here, where it is loaded into railway wagons. The main consumer of the products is the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works.
56. One car includes 69 tons of crushed stone.
58. Loading into vehicles is taking place nearby.
59. Work in a quarry does not stop at night. For this, backlighting works on excavators.
61. UFO.
62. The 55-ton BelAZ trucks used in the quarry are relatively small, and by miners' standards, they are just babies. Someday I will definitely look at the work of 320-ton trucks!
63. Night quarry and factory are beautiful!
Separately, I want to say about the people with whom I worked for two shooting days. Open, kind, cheerful miners, happy to talk about their work and equipment. Real men!
Thanks to all staff
Natural limestone, which consists mainly of organic calcite, is used to make cement, lime, facing blocks, soda, fertilizer, livestock feed, paper, sugar, glass, soap and more. Unlike marble and granite, the deposits of which can be found in the Articles section, limestone is found on almost all continents of the globe. Methods for obtaining this breed have their own specifics.
Extraction methods
Basically, limestone is obtained in open pits. To do this, first remove the top layer of earth and clay and create a cut. Here, the rock is crushed and loaded, which is subsequently taken out on special vehicles.
To date, most often explosive technology is used to get limestone. As a result, the rock crumbles heavily, then this mass is removed by an excavator and loaded for transportation to the processing site. If rather large pieces remained during the explosion, then overhead charges or special mounted butoboys are used to grind them.
More "sparing" methods consist in loosening the rock without explosions. For this, heavy equipment is used, equipped with a mechanical or hydraulic quick-release device. The driver of such an excavator can change the bucket for a baking powder in a matter of minutes and paint the rock. Such machines are able to cope with both soft limestone and hard limestone.
Another method of rock mining is carried out with the help of a milling combine. The machine crushes and loads the limestone at the same time, without delaying its removal.
When erecting buildings, satisfied large slabs are usually required. For their extraction, along with excavators, stone-cutting machines are additionally used. You can also get large fragments with the help of properly organized explosions, but in this case, the blocks may be uneven. To process them, you will need a special grinding tool, and chemical novelties - cleaners, impregnations, dyes - will make the material aesthetically attractive.
According to experts, non-explosive methods of limestone extraction are the least expensive.
Limestone is quite a valuable natural resource. The scope of use of limestone materials is quite wide. Of course, it is worth considering that, like all Natural resources it may run out.
There are a lot of limestone deposits around the world, this rock is not rare, but depending on the methods of extraction and the technique used, it can be quite different in its structure.
As for Russia, the number of quarries for the extraction of limestone is quite a lot, they are available in almost every corner. The following regions are sufficiently known and made public: Voronezh, Leningrad, Tula, Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Vologda.
Of course, you should not forget about the deposits located in the Krasnodar Territory, in the Urals, in the Moscow region, as well as in some regions of Siberia.
In the Vologda region, a limestone deposit is under development, and the resources that are mined there are used for a lime plant located nearby.
The Slobodskoye field is less well-known, as it is located on the territory of a closed railway station.
The Novo-Pristanskoye field is located on the territory of the municipal Satka district. AT this moment limestone reserves are more than 8 thousand tons.
The most popular among enterprises that use limestone as the main raw material in their production are the Savinskoye and Shvakinskoye deposits. It is located in the Arkhangelsk region and includes the Shestovsky, Ogarkovsky and Levoberezhny sections.
The resources that are mined here are used in cement production. According to the balance sheet, limestone reserves are about 106,000 thousand tons. Of this volume, about 65,020 thousand tons are in the undistributed fund. The rest is in the process of preparation, development and technical preparation of the limestone mining project.
The Shvakinskoye field is located in the Arkhangelsk region, namely in the urban settlement of Obozer. This site consists of two territories - Left Bank and East. The left bank section is considered a reserve fund, i.e. no activities regarding the development of methods for the extraction of limestone are carried out here.
The eastern part is used quite intensively, and today the volume of production per year is 100 thousand tons per year. The limestone mined from this quarry is used for the cement industry.
Thus, we can say that Russia is a fairly rich country in terms of resource reserves. 
Limestone is a sedimentary rock that has organic origin. There is also a chemogenic origin of limestone, when the rock is formed as a result of chemical precipitation during the evaporation of water or from aqueous solutions. The basis of the rock is mainly calcium carbonate, presented in the form of calcite crystals of various sizes. The extraction of limestone is in demand, since a person uses this rock in many areas.
Description
The basis of limestone is calcium carbonate - a substance that can dissolve in water. As a result, karst is formed. It can decompose into bases and carbon dioxide. This is carried out at great depths, because due to the influence of the heat of the Earth, limestone forms gas for mineral waters.
Limestone may include impurities of clay minerals, dolomite, quartz, gypsum, pyrite. Natural limestone has a light gray color, although it can be black and white. Impurities give a blue, pink, yellow tint. Limestone mining is in demand because of its wide application. The breed is durable, known for its unique characteristics that make it unlike other materials.
Classification
A common type of rock is the shell rock, which consists of the shells of marine animals and their fragments. There are other types of limestone:
- Bryozoan, which includes the remains of bryozoans - small invertebrates living in colonies in the seas.
- Nummulitic, consisting of extinct unicellular organisms nummulites.
- Marble. It happens thinly layered and massively layered.
During metamorphism, limestone undergoes a process of recrystallization, due to which this rock forms marble. 
Monomineral rock is limestone, the method of extraction of which may differ, depending on the type of impurities, structure, geological age. There are organizations that mine limestone. Places and methods of extraction are determined by the terrain, types of rocks and other characteristics.
Place of Birth
As can be seen from the above, limestone is considered to be a sedimentary rock that appeared with the participation of living organisms living in sea basins. The breed is mined in many regions of our country and other states. Russia is considered one of the leaders in terms of its presence.
Limestone is considered building material» for mountain ranges. An example is the Alps, although it can occur in other mountainous areas. Limestone mining takes place all over the world. There are many reserves in our country. Moreover, all limestone mining sites allow you to get different breeds natural material: dense, white, flux, shell-oolitic.
Limestone mining is known in Russia. Deposits are popular in the western part of the country. Developments are carried out from the Belgorod and Tula regions to Moscow, the Vologda, Voronezh regions. Mining is carried out near St. Petersburg, in the Krasnodar Territory, Arkhangelsk, in the Urals, in Siberia. Of the neighboring countries, there are deposits in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Mining methods
Mining is carried out by an open pit method. The top layer of soil and clay is removed. This is how a quarry is formed. Limestone mining involves pyrotechnical work to crush and detach portions of rock. Then it is taken out by cars for processing. 
The breaking method is considered the world's first mining method. This name was obtained due to the fact that the rock was removed with crowbars, and then stones were knocked out of the formation with hammers. An alternative to this method is now being used. Explosive method is used. A small crumb is obtained from the breed. The excavator collects it, loads it onto dump trucks, and then everything is transported to the plant, where it is processed and cleaned.
There is a special device for the excavator, with which the extraction of limestone can be carried out without explosion. The driver changes the bucket for a mounted machine that loosens the rock. This method is used in areas with high population density. There is a method of extraction by a milling combine. This is the most profitable option. At the same time, rock is mined, crushed and transported.
Features of the traditional way
The old method is used to extract limestone slabs. You just need to find a way out from under the ground. Then the area where mining will be carried out is cleared with a shovel. 
With a crowbar, you need to create a crack in the limestone slab, and then pry off the edge of the slab and lift it up. Since limestone is located underground in layers, only a small plate of it should be raised. It must be pulled out of the place where the limestone lies. They cut the rock with an ordinary saw. To simplify the work, the tool is moistened in water.
explosive method
Limestone is obtained using the explosive method. First, it is necessary to open the deposits, removing earth, clay and substandard limestone from them with the help of bulldozers. Wells are drilled near the edge of the mining site and explosives are placed there. With the help of explosions, limestone layers are broken off, which then needs to be loaded into dump trucks and taken out for further processing. 
Then the quarry where the extraction was carried out is covered with earth, planted with herbs and plants. This method is used in large deposits. And in small ones, the explosive method should not be used. Then the limestone is taken out in blocks similar to the shape of rectangles. This technology is called bar working.
The work is done by different machines that cut stones. You definitely need an excavator. The technology has its advantages:
- Simplicity.
- Nice block shape.
- Easy transport and handling.
Since limestone has a porous structure, it is used in the construction industry. From it erect temples, palaces, estates.
Types and colors of limestone
Limestone mining allows you to get different rocks. They differ in color, structure, chemical composition, origin, area of use and other characteristics. By type of application, limestones of different colors are found:
- White and gray - "pure" rock, in which there are no impurities.
- Red and brown are limestones with manganese.
- Yellow and brown - contain iron.
- Green - stones with seaweed inclusions.
- Dark gray and black - have organic impurities.
In terms of structure and chemical composition breed happens:
- Dolomitized - contains 4-17% magnesium oxide. If the proportion of magnesium increases, then dolomites are formed.
- Marbled - carbonate limestones with organic inclusions. Their palette can be from beige to gray-blue tones.
- Coral. The rocks have a porous structure. They are transformed into reefs from mollusk shells and shells of marine life.
- Clayey. The rock has a composition similar to limestone and marl. The formations are softer than limestones, brittle compared to shale clays.
By origin, limestones are:
- Jurassic - a rock with a history of hundreds of millions of years, has high strength, density and fine grain. In the Middle Ages, limestone was called "marble" due to the fact that it could be polished.
- Putilovsky. This limestone has unique physical characteristics, low moisture absorption and abrasion. During the formation of St. Petersburg was the main building material. It is named after the place of extraction - the Putilov quarry, located in the Leningrad region.
Applications
In the metallurgical industry, it is used as a flux. It is considered the main ingredient during the creation of cement and lime. It is used as an auxiliary component for the production of soda, mineral fertilizers, paper, sugar, glass. 
The material is also used to produce rubber, paints, soaps, plastics, mineral wool. It is in demand in the construction industry for the manufacture of facing and wall blocks. It is used for the construction of foundations, roads. Limestone mining makes it possible to provide building materials for the entire country.
Limestone is a soft rock that is widely used in construction.
Most often, the rock is mined by blasting, as a result of which limestone turns into crumbs.
Then this mass is lifted from the quarry by an excavator and transported to the factories.
Currently, other methods are being introduced into practice that make it possible to loosen the rock without producing an explosion.
Caterpillar has developed new heavy-duty excavators equipped with special attachments that break rock quickly. There are excavators with both mechanical and hydraulic aerating machines.
If you want to give a gift to your girlfriend on New Year, then wholesale jewelry is what you need. Visit the site www.sunstones.com.ua to find out the prices for the entire range of products.
The device is attached to the handle with a special mount. And it is quick release. An excavator driver can change the bucket for a baking powder in a matter of seconds, which turns the rock into crumbs.
Then the removable device is changed to a bucket, with which the loosened rock is transported from the quarry. This machine is capable of crushing both soft and fairly hard limestone.
The advantage of this method is also the fact that it makes it possible to carry out rock selection into various fractions already in the quarry. Although it is possible to accurately select a mining method only after analyzing the rock, one can still immediately say that this method is the future.
In Germany, it is used when limestone deposits are located in places with a high population density. The method also pays off when it comes to the impact of production on environment, as it reduces the share of harmful emissions into the atmosphere.
The method is actively promoted Russian company Zeppellin, which uses Rip&Load technology for non-explosive limestone mining. The company studies physical and Chemical properties rock limestone at the enterprises where it is delivered.
As a result, data were obtained on which methods should be applied in various fields.
The third extraction method is performed by a milling machine. With this method, the rock is mechanically converted into crumb. Grinding, loading and transportation are carried out simultaneously.
The lowest costs in the extraction of rock are achieved by using an excavator and a hydraulic opener. Even more economical way is the use of a mining combine, the operating costs of which are 7% lower than mining with an excavator.