THE CONCEPT of moving the primary crusher into the mine pit, either fully or semi-mobile, is not new. Back in 1956 the first mobile crusher was developed by Krupp and put into operation in a German limestone quarry. The rationale for taking that path is today as valid as it was 55 years ago: limitations of the truck fleet. While in 1956 the issue was the trucks' inability to cope with frozen ramps, today it's an abundance of challenges for modern mine management such as labour availability and cost, fuel cost, tyre management and carbon emissions. This article shall not discuss the viability of in-pit crushing per se but provide an overview of the evolution of semi-mobile crushing plants over the last decades, which lead to the current state-of-the-art. Currently, this design sets new standards coming into service on sites all over the world including Australia, China, Europe and South America.
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