Types of Mining Cables for Underground and Surface Mines

The main types of mining cables are trailing cables, reeling cables, mine power feeder cables and cables for fixed installations. Control, signal and communication cables support machine operation, monitoring and mine networks.

These names describe different aspects of a cable’s job. “Power” identifies what it carries; “reeling” identifies how it moves. A reeling power cable therefore belongs to both categories.

Underground and surface mines often use the same broad cable categories. The important differences appear at the application level: a shuttle car repeatedly winds its cable onto a drum, a shovel moves with a heavy supply cable, and a stationary conveyor drive may operate without moving its electrical connection.

Mining cables are best understood through two classifications: how they are installed or moved, and what electrical function they perform. This prevents different terms from being mistaken for interchangeable products.

Trailing, reeling, feeder and fixed-installation cables are useful application categories, but they are not four mutually exclusive constructions.

Trailing and reeling duties can overlap. A cable may trail behind a machine while an onboard reel retrieves it. Some products support both applications; others are designed for a narrower duty.

Feeder and fixed also overlap. Southwire, for example, specifies an MP-GC product for stationary horizontal distribution in permanent or semi-portable installations. That description does not make it a continuously moving machine cable. Source: Southwire MP-GC application specification

The electrical types of mining cables include power, control, instrumentation and communication cables. Each serves a different part of the mine’s operating system.

• Power cables deliver electrical energy to motors, transformers and other loads.
• Control cables connect operating commands, interlocks and switching functions.
• Signal or instrumentation cables carry measurements and monitoring information.
• Communication cables carry voice or data between network devices and communication equipment.

These functions may use separate cables or a purpose-designed combined construction. Electro-optic power cables, for example, combine power conductors and optical fibres for longwall equipment. Source: AmerCable underground mining cables

Underground radio systems may also use leaky feeder cable, a radiating coaxial cable that acts as an antenna along a tunnel. Despite the name, it is a communication cable—not a mine power feeder. Source: Becker Mining leaky feeder cable

Underground mining uses flexible supply cables near moving machinery and distribution cables along established routes. Working-face equipment, fixed infrastructure and vertical shafts impose different duties, even within the same mine.

Trailing, reeling and cable-handler-compatible constructions serve different forms of underground movement.

A trailing supply follows a machine as it advances or repositions. A reeling supply experiences repeated winding and unwinding. A cable travelling through a chain or handler follows a constrained bending path, often within limited space.

This distinction matters because the cable’s conductors, core arrangement and reinforcement must work together under that movement. A construction suitable for occasional repositioning does not automatically suit repeated bending through a compact handler.

Longwall shearers illustrate the difference. They travel along the coal face while their cables move through dedicated handling arrangements. Prysmian identifies specially flexible constructions for this duty, including Type 245SF for cable-chain applications. Source: Prysmian underground mining cable applications

The underground location adds another requirement: the cable must meet the applicable mine-use requirements for its intended installation. A surface application description alone does not establish suitability for an underground coal mine.

Mine power feeder cables connect distribution equipment; fixed branch circuits carry power onward to stationary loads. Their normal duty differs from a cable repeatedly retrieved by a moving machine.

Feeder products may be designed for supported open-air routes, ducts or direct burial. Suitability for each installation method must appear in the product specification. Prysmian’s MP-GC range, for example, includes products intended for permanent distribution installations. Source: Prysmian MP-GC feeder cable

Fixed installations may use armoured constructions or other approved forms of mechanical protection. Flexible cables can also be installed in a fixed position; “fixed” describes their operating condition.

Vertical shafts introduce a separate mechanical issue: suspended cable weight. Purpose-designed borehole or suspension cables use an engineered load-bearing arrangement. They should not be treated as an ordinary horizontal feeder hung vertically. Source: Prysmian suspension and mine distribution cables

Surface mines use heavy-duty mobile supply cables around extraction equipment and fixed cables around distribution and processing infrastructure. Outdoor exposure affects both groups, while movement determines whether trailing, reeling or another flexible construction is needed.

Electrically powered draglines, shovels and blast-hole drills commonly use heavy-duty trailing cables, with reeling constructions where the handling system requires them.

These machines can place the supply cable in contact with rough ground and expose it to movement during repositioning. The jacket provides protection against specified external stresses, while the internal construction must accommodate the intended bending and handling.

SHD-GC is one example of a shielded mining power cable family used for such equipment. Southwire lists a particular SHD-GC product for shovels, draglines and blast-hole drillers, among other applications. Source: Southwire SHD-GC specification

Slow reeling is also a distinct published duty. Prysmian identifies Type 450 for slow reeling and trailing applications on draglines, shovels and excavators. This should not be interpreted as equivalent to the frequent high-speed reeling associated with shuttle cars. Source: Prysmian open-cut mining cables

A travelling stacker-reclaimer needs a moving power connection; a stationary processing plant mainly needs fixed circuits.

For a stacker-reclaimer equipped with a cable reel, the appropriate category is a reeling cable compatible with that system. Festoon systems instead support the cable in hanging loops that open and close as the machine travels. AmerCable lists reeling and festoon products for stacker-reclaimers and similar materials-handling equipment. Source: AmerCable reeling application cables

Processing plants contain several electrical duties. Crushers and conveyor drives require power connections, instruments require signal circuits, and control equipment requires communication between devices.

Variable-frequency-drive motor circuits may require a dedicated VFD cable construction. This is an electrical application distinction within the plant, separate from whether the cable is fixed or moving. Source: AmerCable mining infrastructure cables

A single plant can therefore require several types of mining cables rather than one general-purpose specification.

The correct equipment-to-cable match follows the movement of the electrical connection, not simply the movement of the machine’s working parts. The comparisons below concern equipment supplied through an external cable.

Continuous miners generally need trailing supply cables, cable-powered shuttle cars need reeling-capable supplies, and roof bolters commonly use flexible trailing supplies. Their operating patterns explain the differences.

Continuous miners. The machine advances and changes position as it cuts. Its supply must follow that movement and tolerate the installed handling arrangement. Depending on the electrical system, the cable may require screened power cores and grounding-monitoring provisions. Type 241 is one documented example used for continuous-miner applications in the Australian market. Source: Prysmian Type 241

Shuttle cars. Repeated travel between loading and discharge points can produce frequent reel cycles. A purpose-designed shuttle-car cable addresses this recurring mechanical duty. Prysmian Type 275, for example, is specified for high-speed shuttle-car reeling and resistance to corkscrew deformation. Source: Prysmian Type 275

Roof bolters. The supply follows the machine as it moves between bolting positions, even though the machine may remain stationary while drilling and installing bolts. That makes its external supply different from a permanently fixed plant connection. Roof bolters are among the applications covered by AmerCable’s underground trailing cable range. Source: AmerCable underground applications

These examples identify application categories. They do not make the named regional cable types interchangeable.

Conveyors and pumps demonstrate why equipment function alone does not determine cable type. A moving conveyor belt does not necessarily move the motor’s supply cable, and a pump cable is not necessarily submerged.

For a stationary conveyor drive, a suitable fixed power connection is the starting category. A travelling conveyor section or mobile transfer machine may instead need reeling, festoon or other moving cables.

For pumps, distinguish the feeder to the pump installation from the cable section exposed to water. A submerged section needs an explicit rating for its immersion conditions. Prysmian separately identifies cables for permanent underwater service on submersible pumps and dredgers. Source: Prysmian mining pump applications

Draglines and electrically powered excavators generally bring the focus back to the mobile supply. Some excavators use dedicated cable reels mounted on the machine, so “excavator cable” can involve both trailing and reel-handling requirements. Source: Conductix-Wampfler excavator cable reels

The table below translates the application distinctions into a practical comparison of types of mining cables. It synthesises the manufacturer applications discussed above; it identifies the starting category rather than a complete replacement specification.

Movement identifies the mechanical category, voltage identifies the electrical rating, and environment identifies the required exposure performance. All three must apply to the same proposed cable.

Voltage must then be checked within the chosen category. For example, Prysmian lists G-GC products rated at 2 kV, while its SHD-GC range spans several ratings. “Trailing cable” alone therefore does not specify a voltage. Source: Prysmian portable mining cable ratings

Environmental ratings are equally specific. Outdoor exposure, oil contact and permanent immersion are different conditions. A product suitable for one should not be assumed suitable for all three.

The most consequential mistakes occur when a familiar label hides a different operating duty.

1. Treating all trailing cables as reeling cables.
   Some products support both duties, but trailing suitability alone does not establish performance on a particular reel.
2. Treating all reeling applications as equivalent.
   Frequent shuttle-car reeling and slow cable retrieval on large surface equipment impose different operating demands.
3. Assuming every feeder is a continuously flexible cable.
   A feeder may permit relocation while remaining intended for stationary service during operation.
4. Choosing by the machine’s movement instead of the cable’s movement.
   A conveyor belt can run continuously while its motor connection stays fixed. A roof bolter can work stationary but still need a mobile supply between positions.
5. Assuming every pump cable can remain underwater.
   The dry feeder and submerged motor lead may require different constructions and ratings.
6. Confusing an application category with a regional model code.
   “Reeling cable” describes duty. Names such as Type 275 or SHD-GC describe particular cable families within specific product and standards systems.
7. Replacing by conductor size and outer diameter alone.
   Similar dimensions do not establish equivalent screening, grounding, monitoring or mechanical performance.

For a useful comparison, describe the application before comparing model names: a reeling supply for a shuttle car, a stationary mine feeder, or an immersion-rated pump connection. That description gives the cable category a clear meaning and makes differences between proposed products easier to assess.