MECHANISED COAL AND SOFT ROCK
Bursting at the seams
With underground fires igniting another safety debate in coal mining circles , it is worth reiterating the automation advances the sector continues to make , Dan Gleeson argues
HBT recently announced the first two roof supports manufactured by HBT in Luenen , Germany , had left its Westfalia Campus
While debates about the required level of automation to facilitate safe and efficient mining continue in the hardrock space , the soft-rock sector has a number of ‘ automation champions ’ already claiming ‘ 100 %’ or ‘ fully-automated ’ milestones .
Many of these are in Australia – think Anglo American , Glencore , Kestrel Coal Resources and others – with other regions such as the US , Europe ( those mines still operating ) and China continuing to up the automation ante .
This is important for a segment of the mining market that has been unloved by various stakeholders , making it harder to attract the needed investment , talent and resources to sustain existing production levels , let alone increase it .
It is also crucial at a time when several highprofile fires at modern underground complexes hit the headlines .
Eickhoff ’ s unwavering focus pays off
During his presentation earlier this year at the 22nd Annual Australian Longwall Mining Conference , in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales , Australia , Eickhoff Bergbautechnik ‘ s Johannes Krings , Senior Vice President for Europe , Asia , Australia , America , Africa , discussed the “ steep curve ” of longwall automation in the sector right now and questioned : “ What are the next big levers to be improved when it comes to longwall automation ?”
This question speaks volumes for the technological maturity of the longwall coal mining sector , and specifically in Australia .
Earlier this year , Kestrel Coal and the Gricon Industries team announced a major remote longwall operation milestone , achieving 152 remote shears over 10 days , with the last 94 shears being consecutive . This was from Kestrel ’ s first surface remote mining trial , according to Gricon .
“ This accomplishment is not only a testament to the team ' s expertise but also a significant step towards becoming a surface remotely operated longwall operation ,” it said .
Kestrel , one of the world ’ s largest producing underground metallurgical coal mines from its operation in the Bowen Basin of Queensland , joins several mines in having such remote capabilities – Oaky Creek , Grosvenor , Moranbah and Aquila among them .
All these operations leverage longwall shearers from Eickhoff , a Germany-based company that specialises in such technology .
“ We are working very closely with a number of Australian mining companies , many of whom are
in a race to be the most productive from an automation perspective ,” the company told IM . “ We already have machines that are working fully autonomously , and the longwalls continue to work at peak performance over extensive periods .”
While there is a broad competitive environment in the global market for medium seam thickness coal operations , market participants are aware the area of thin and very thick seams , as well as higher installed power for low to mid-seam operations , are now becoming the focus of technical development , Eickhoff says .
In the meantime , Eickhoff ’ s ongoing continuous miner focus and development has resulted in a South African mine shattering its previous monthly production record of 84,234 t by achieving 93,982 t mined in a mid-seam application with shuttle cars . This record was broken by an Eickhoff CM2H-45 which was originally delivered more than 13 years ago . Eickhoff said : “ The collaboration between the customer and Eickhoff has resulted in the operation breaking the site production record three times in less than two years .”
Not content with regularly breaking production records , Eickhoff has just completed the development of the latest generation CM2E
60 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2024