Mobile oil sands mining system

A method of mining oil sands ore with a mobile conveyor, the method comprising:

• at a first conveyor position:
• excavating and sizing ore at a mine face within operational reach of the first position;
• transferring the sized ore to the conveyor;
• conveying the sized ore along the conveyor;
• and
• discharging the sized ore;
• after excavating, sizing and transferring substantially all the ore within operational reach of the conveyor in the first conveyor position, advancing the conveyor generally about the discharge end to a second conveyor position;
• and, excavating, sizing and transferring substantially all the ore within operational reach of the conveyor at the second position.

A method of mining oil sand ore with a mobile conveyor, the method comprising:

• excavating, sizing and transferring to the conveyor all ore within operational reach along the length of the conveyor;
• conveying the sized ore along the conveyor to a discharge end of the conveyor;
• advancing the conveyor generally about the discharge end to locate the conveyor within operational reach of a further section of oil sand ore;
• excavating, sizing and transferring to the conveyor all ore in the further section within operational reach along the length of the conveyor;
• continuing to advance the conveyor about the discharge end to locate the conveyor within operational reach of additional sections of oil sand ore and after each advancement excavating, sizing and transferring the respective additional section of oil sand ore, until substantially all ore within an operational arc sector generally about the discharge end has been excavated, sized and transferred to the conveyor.

A method of extracting a body of oil sand ore for conveyance to a mobile slurry facility, the method comprising:

• locating the mobile slurry facility near a mine face of a body of oil sand ore;
• positioning a mobile conveyor within operational reach of a section of the ore body and locating a discharge end of the mobile conveyor to convey mined ore to the mobile slurry facility;
• extracting the section of the ore body and conveying it to the mobile slurry facility;
• advancing the mobile conveyor generally about the discharge end to locate the mobile conveyor within operational reach of a further section of the ore body;
• extracting the further section of the ore body and conveying it to the mobile slurry facility;
• continuing to advance the conveyor and convey additional sections of the ore body to the mobile slurry facility until the ore within an arc sector about the discharge end of the conveyor has been extracted.

A method of increasing the effective length of a mobile conveyor for conveying a mined ore, the method comprising:

• (f) Locating a mobile conveyor within operational reach of a section of ore;
• (g) Extracting the section of ore within operational reach of the conveyor and transferring the extracted ore to the conveyor;
• (h) Advancing the conveyor generally about the discharge end to locate the conveyor within operational reach of a further section of ore;
• (i) Repeating steps (b) and (c) until substantially all ore within operational reach of the conveyor has been extracted and,
• (j) relocating the discharge end of the conveyor to a substantial center of the arc.

A method for increasing the mineable volume of ore capable of being transported from the mine site to a discharge point using a mobile conveyor, the method comprising:

• Locating the mobile conveyor near a mine face with a discharge end located in communication with the discharge point;
• Excavating a section of ore within operational reach of the mobile conveyor along the length of the conveyor;
• Repeatedly advancing the mobile conveyor through an operational arc generally about the discharge end to locate and extract additional sections of ore within operational reach along the length of the conveyor;
• and,
• Relocating the mobile conveyor to locate the discharge end in communication with a new discharge point located near the perimeter of the operational arc.

A process line for excavating and processing oil sands ore near a mine face, the process line comprising:

• a mobile excavator for excavating ore along the length of a mobile mining conveyor;
• a mobile comminutor for receiving and comminuting excavated ore and transferring comminuted ore to the mobile mining conveyor;
• the mobile mining conveyor conveying the comminuted ore to a transfer conveyor;
• the transfer conveyor conveying the comminuted ore to a mobile slurry facility;
• the mobile slurry facility converting the comminuted ore into a slurry and pumping and conditioning the slurry through a hydro-transport pipeline to a mobile extraction facility;
• the mobile extraction facility receiving the slurry and combining with a water stream to separate a bitumen stream and a tailings stream from the slurry;
• wherein the bitumen stream is directed to a separation facility and the tailings stream is directed to a tailings treatment facility.

A process line for excavating and processing oil sands ore near a mine face, the process line comprising:

• a mobile excavator for excavating ore along the length of a mobile mining conveyor;
• a mobile comminutor for receiving and comminuting the excavated ore and transferring the comminuted ore to the mobile mining conveyor;
• the mobile mining conveyor conveying the comminuted ore to a transfer conveyor;
• the transfer conveyor conveying the comminuted ore to a mobile slurry facility;
• at the mobile slurry facility combining the comminuted ore with process water to produce a slurry and pumping and conditioning the slurry through a hydro-transport pipeline to a mobile extraction facility as a slurry feed;
• at the mobile extraction facility receiving the slurry feed and directing the slurry feed and a water stream as inputs to a three stage countercurrent cyclone separator;
• the cyclone separator producing a bitumen rich stream and a tailings stream;
• the bitumen rich stream being directed to a froth concentration unit;
• the froth concentration unit separating the bitumen rich stream into a bitumen product stream, a recycled water stream and a fine tailings stream;
• the fine tailings stream being combined with the tailings stream to produce a tailings product stream;
• the tailings product stream being directed to a tailings treatment facility;
• the tailings treatment facility receiving the tailings product and combining the tailings product with an additive to produce a treated tailings stream;
• the treated tailings stream being directed to a tailings pond;
• the treated tailings stream being separated into a dry tails phase and a water phase;
• and,
• the water phase being collected at the tailings pond and recycled as industrial process water.