Hydraulic Starting Mechanism: Monitors

A hydraulic monitor is denominated to equipment that is deemed for the usage of the force of the water in a great amount of pressure and is used to dismount, loosen, cut and drag the auriferous materials in an alluvial bank. This consists in a conic tube that has a mouthpiece with different diameters that can be replaced according to the necessities of the operation being carried out. The conic tube is mounted on an articulated support in order to produce horizontal movements, and vertical up to 60 degrees in angle. The mouthpieces that are used go from 2 inches to 9 inches in diameter, the water entry tube of the monitor is made from 6 inches to 15 inches in diameter, around 2.25 to 2.33 times the diameter of the mouthpiece.

Cutter suction dredges (Underwater Bucket Wheel). This consists of a floating dredge whose rotating and cutter head has a great amount of cutting power and this is installed in the same entry as the suction tube. The curved steel cutter turns to the extreme of a frame under the water. It has the inconvenience of dredging selectively; the cost of this is very high since these dredges use even higher potencies than the dredger bucket, and in consequence the pumps and cutters with installed potency cannot operate less than 6,000 HP.

Bucket wheel dredge. This is also a floating dredge and is very similar to the cutter suction dredge with the distinction that the cutter head is replaced by a wheel dredge that rotates over a horizontal and transversal axis of the suction tube. This allows better control of the circulating pulp and avoids loss of the material in the moment that it is being pulled out and is channelled directly toward the entry of the suction tube.

Bucketline Dredge. This is self contained and has a great amount of capacity being able to excavate, separate, wash and recuperate valuable minerals and deposit the tailings in a continuous operation. This dredge consists of a barge where the whole excavation system is mounted formed by a line of iron buckets, fixed on a chain that moved between two drums installed on the extremes of a structure, and the concentrating plant, whose recovery elements are jigs and sometimes with an addition of sluices with riffles. The line of buckets feeds the dredged material to the trommel classifier. The thick material is evacuated by means of a conveyor belt to an empty space and allows the finer material to be processed in the concentrating plant. The operation with this equipment requires great amounts of reserves and sufficient amount of water depending on the magnitude of the operations.