ODDS’N’SODS — Mucking at the Aunor

Most English-speaking countries refer to the blasted rock of mining operations as “muck,” regardless of whether the rock is ore or waste.

As the capacity of mills increased, a large percentage of mine workers came to consist of muckers who, using a Jones hand shovel (also called a muck stick), filled mine cars in a never-ending cycle.

Mucking out a round was brutal, back-breaking labor, and was usually carried out in a “bad air” environment. When pneumatic drills replaced “hand steeling,” the drilling process improved greatly. However, the increased amount of muck required that there be additional muckers.

Development of a machine to replace hand-mucking was important and, soon, companies like Sullivan, Gardner-Denver and Eimco had designs for prototype mucking machines. A man named Findlay took his design to Eimco in Salt Lake City, Utah, and his mucking machine soon became a best-seller.

In 1938, the Augite prospect near Timmins, Ont., ordered a Gardner-Denver GD9 mucker, which was one of the first to appear. In 1940, after Augite was renamed Aunor, an order was placed for four more GD9s, reportedly because the Gardner-Denver sales manager was a friend of the Aunor mine manager.

I joined Aunor in 1939, when only three of the GD9s were operable. The manager called me to his office one day and asked me to concentrate on getting those machines in shape and making them reliable.

We sent two machine casings with defective kingpins to the McIntyre mine, to be rebored and fitted with improved pins. We reworked the gear boxes that housed the 4-wheel-drive mechanism and put wear-resistant skid bars under the frame. We also came up with a cast manganese bucket lip that would allow the track to be cleaned in the centre and on both sides, which would please any operator. The reworked GD9s compared favorably with Eimco’s machines and, in 1947, I was invited to Salt Lake City, Utah, to discuss whether the bucket modifications could be added to Eimco’s muckers. Rail-mounted Eimco muckers were being produced at that time.

The Aunor mine continued producing until 1981, but, with rubber-tire mucking machines gaining in popularity, rail-mounted GD9s were phased out.

When I left the Aunor, in 1949, the safety captain told me he was pleased to see a significant reduction in compensation cases (mainly back problems) since the elimination of hand-mucking. He also noted a reduction in the purchase of Jones shovels. He said he was concerned, however, when he saw a miner with a muck stick, as the fellow was probably planning to go through the muck pile in search of grade when no supervisors were around.

— The author, a frequent contributor to this column, resides in Boyertown, Pa.