MECHANISED COAL
miners looking to move as many people away
from the face as possible.
“There are three applications in Australia we
are part of, with three different mining houses,
where they are aggressively striving for the 100%
automation mark,” he said.
“These three are already at a very high level but
want to go even further. They see a benefit in
moving to fully autonomous operations.”
The deliverables from such automation are
consistency of operation, which provides
increased production and better equipment
reliability as the shearer is always running at an
optimum level, Smallwood said.
“And, most importantly, the fewer people you
have at the face, the safer it becomes,” he said.
“They are not exposed to the dangers of the
environment at the same time as the new
technology means no sacrifices are being made in
terms of productivity.”
These autonomous leaders in Australia could
push other regions to adopt safer processes at
longwall operations, Krings says.
“While we are unlikely to implement all these
sophisticated technologies realised in Australia
immediately in the Balkan, Eastern Europe, or
Russia markets, these markets are likely to adopt
easy-to-implement safety technologies that lead
to better performance monitoring, more consistent
production and safer operations.
“The strides these mining houses in Australia
are taking will prove influential across the
industry.”
New autonomous elements
Komatsu Mining’s Sudworth agrees with
Smallwood when it comes to the value proposition
that comes with fully autonomous longwall
operations.
“The use of longwall automation has been
“The use of longwall automation has been
shown to improve safety by reducing the number
of operators on the face and keeping them away
from the hazardous zones,” James Sudworth of
Komatsu Mining says
shown to improve safety by reducing the number
of operators on the face and keeping them away
from the hazardous zones,” he said.
“An automated system is designed to perform a
Rely on Richwood Load Zone
nes. W
orry-Free by Design.
ean-up costs, lost product, safety a onmental
issues are areal risk to productivity.With
a load zone de-
signed by Richwood, this application
is saving 40 hours of
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