Here are all the types of mining tools used in surface mining:

• Blasthole drills

Blasthole drills are mining machines that drill holes into the earth’s surface for placing explosives

• Bucket-wheel excavators

Bucket-wheel excavators are used in open-pit mining. These mining tools continuously dig, transport, and load materials, excavating up to 240,000 cubic tons of minerals per day.

• Dozers

Dozers are earth-movers that drag dirt from one area to another.

• Dragline excavators

Dragline excavators are used in strip mining to remove overburden. The massive bucket system is attached to large booms and dragged across the surface of the earth for excavation. This is one of the largest pieces of land mining equipment used in mining, or any industry.

• Graders

Graders are used to create viable roads for mining trucks so they can transport minerals out of the mine and keep them profitable.

• Highwall miners

Highwall miners are mining machines that extract coal from exposed seams. The highwall miners rotate up and down a wall, grinding mineral deposits out of the walls. These mining tools are also used for trench mining.

• Mining trucks

Mining trucks are essentially large dump trucks used for mining. New technology has developed fully autonomous mining trucks that use both LiDAR and radar to freely move around a mining site.

• Shovels

Shovels are used for digging and to extract broken rocks and minerals.

• Wheel tractor scrapers

Wheel tractor scrapers are another earth-mover that operates similarly to a carpenter’s plane. Unlike dozers, scrapers have the capability to load and carry materials.

• Drones 

Drones for mining can be used for overground surveys to track progress, calculate stockpiles in and out of storage spaces, and inspect equipment and machinery.