97 Articles
Pad drilling has been around for over a decade across various drilling sites, and has already revolutionized drilling operations and the oil and gas industry overall. Its initial benefits around avoidance of cost associated with moving the drilling equipment was later coupled with increased hydrocarbon production, thanks to the ability to drill in batches. Today, pad drilling is the norm across ma
It's the use of rare earth elements and tech metals, brought to us by the mining industry through different types of mining. Devices that use these elements help mankind explore new frontiers in outer space, progress the green energy transformation and build a connected world. Out of 118 elements within the periodic table, a little over 20 of them fall into the categories of rare earth elements
Stainless steel refrigerators, microwave ovens, and air conditioners (ACs); modern recreational vehicles (RVs) are truly home away from home. In fact, some of the large and luxurious RVs feature RV generators that are more powerful than the back-up power generator you might be using at your home. You might feel overwhelmed as you try to find the right size generator to power your RV. Ther
As you search for a quiet generator for your RV, you have probably looked at various portable and RV generators. You likely saw numbers ranging from 50 to 80 decibels and are wondering how to interpret these numbers. Let's start with what is quiet. What is a quiet portable or RV generator? Here is an easy way to gauge decibel levels of different generators; a traditional vacuum cleaner
The oil and gas sector's environmental footprint differs between its upstream, midstream and downstream activities. For midstream, refineries collectively represent the majority of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted in this stage of the processing. On the other hand, many different activities contribute to the sector's GHG emissions produced during upstream processing. These activities range from ons
Downtime of a mining dump truck or an excavator could cost the mine operator over thousand dollars per hour. With such high costs associated with machine downtime, it is crucial for the mining industry to improve machine uptime. What is machine downtime, uptime and availability? Let's start with equipment availability. Equipment availability as the duration the equipment is ready when
This edition of our 'Digging Deeper' series focuses on sustainable mining. It outlines some of the technologies the mining industry is using to progress in sustainable mining and reduced environmental impact. Sustainable mining and reducing the environmental footprint are emerging priorities across the mining industry. For example, Glencore allocated 16 out of 93 pages in its most recent annual
Some mine haul trucks feature $50,000 tires and consume up to 30 gallons of fuel an hour. It could cost over a million dollars a year to operate one of these mine haul trucks. These high costs are also combined with almost continuous use of equipment in mining industry. This combination allows even small improvements yield into major financial performance gains for miners. What impacts th
Sustainable mining and reducing the cost of production are two of the focal points of this modernization. Cummins has been a part of this journey since the Cummins Model F engines powered the very first diesel shovel in 1926. "The mining industry is now an innovation hub. Mine sites feature the latest technologies from remote control equipment to driverless (autonomous) trucks. In fact, two of
Mining industry uses approximately four percent of the world's energy according to the International Energy Agency. This makes efficiency an important consideration for mining industry. This is true both at equipment level efficiency and site-level efficiency. Mines use energy for tasks ranging from mobile machinery operation to ventilation. Meanwhile, heavy mobile mining equipment such as haul
Let's define productivity as getting the job done faster. Increased mining equipment productivity helps miners do more with less. In the mining business, productivity is sometimes less space allocated to an engine, leaving extra room for more payload. Sometimes, it is less time for mine haul trucks to accelerate, thus maximizing the number of trips a day. Miners have several opportunities
This article outlines two key exhaust emission regulations focused on diesel engines often used in upstream oil and gas activities. These are the diesel engines often used in equipment such as cementers, blenders, mixers, mud pumps and frac rigs you would see in upstream oil and gas activities. Environmental Protections Agency's (EPA) Nonroad Exhaust Emission Standards Most recentl