Hand Bogging/Mucking

Bogging in mines

Wombats bogging

Download video of Wombats mucking
(AVI, 1.6 MB)

Download video of the cart push
(AVI, 5.9 MB)

Hand Bogging (shovelling) is one of the toughest events in the competition. Five team members will start with an empty ore cart, two shovels and one and a half to two tonnes of 'muck', which will be made up of -1/2-inch rock, clay sand and water. The team is given ten minutes set-up time, in which they must construct their own muck pile and secure their muck board. Upon the start of the event, the team must push the empty ore cart down a 75-foot section of rail, and back to their original starting place at the muck pile.

Once returning to the muck pile, two members will begin shovelling the muck into the cart, while two members act as 'screeters', levelling the muck in the cart. The extra man will replace one of the shovellers at some point during the muck. Once the judge confirms the cart is full, the team will push the cart down and back the same 75-foot section of track. Once they reach the starting end, the judge will stop time. In the case of cart derailment or more than two men shovelling at one time, the team will be disqualified. The lowest time wins the event.

This event went through mechanisation many years ago, as compressed air and combustion engines became safe for use in well-ventilated underground mines. Its predecessor, the B-Double mucker, was one of the biggest amputaters in the industry for quite some time. These days Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) units and underground trucks are a much safer, more efficient means of loading and haulage.