Re: A question for Fritz

Rubber tire haulage in mines requires substantially larger tunnel sizes to accommodate the vehicles and the ventilation problems are incredible with diesel equipment. In Silverton's Sunnyside Mine, this conversion from rail is one of the reasons the mine shut down. In going after what are often narrow vein structures, all the rock blasted out gets run through the mill and they end up processing a lot of waste rock. Hard rock mines are way different than coal mines or mines with solid blocks of ore. Since the ore from the Revenue may end up being hauled to Silverton for milling, that's thousands of tons of waste rock being hauled for no return. In this case rail haulage underground makes a lot of sense.

Fritz