HIGH PROFILE
Q Can you given some insight into your key machine and component partnerships ? A J . H . Fletcher in Huntington , West Virginia is our largest and most important partner , as the majority of our low profile bolters , including those at KGHM utilise a J . H . Fletcher front end , including our Roof Master 1.4 , 1.4 Automatic and 1.7 plus the innovative Roof Master 1.7 Automatic bolter which emerged from a cooperative effort involving Mine Master and J . H . Fletcher engineers . This has been followed by the new twin boom Face Master 2.320 which is being shipped to India , as well as to Chile this year . Then we also have bolters such as the Roof Master 1.8 AWK ATEX for explosive environments which uses our in-house AWK rotary rock drill . Next , I would mention five other companies – Deutz which supplies our engines including those for drill rigs and bolters ; Montabert , which supplies the rock drills used on our Face Master development and production drill rigs ; and Padley & Venables , which we have worked with for a long time on the hard rock tools we supply for ex-factory machines . Dana we tend to work with on transmissions and powertrains , and lastly the companies we have worked very closely for many years on computerised-control of our product line-up . Q Looking back on Mine Master ’ s 30 years , are there any particular product launches or developments that you would highlight as being important landmarks or big steps forward ? A I would say first of all in 1995 / 1996 the initial low profile 1.4 and 1.7 Roof Master and Face Master machines for KGHM . Later on , we also began to supply these machines to South Africa and Zimbabwe . Then in the early 2000s , we began working with AMV and Bever Control to produce our first fully computerised Face Master drill jumbo which became known as the Feeder Guidance System or FGS . This monitoring system allows for drilling according to a drill plan , plus it helps to control and monitor drilling parameters . The operator can see the visualisation of the drilling pattern and feeder position on their monitor . In order to maximise the drilling results , the system also provides drilling reports
with drilling parameters . We were able to then offer FGS to KGHM and other customers . Lastly we have just developed a low profile drill rig with our new Autonomous Drilling System or ADS – this fully autonomous solution we believe to be a world first on a low profile machine . It means there is very little direct operator input – they are acting more as a manager or monitor of the machine . It makes for the highest levels of precision . Because the pressure and the feed is so tightly controlled in tandem with the drill plan , ultimately it will translate into a longer lifetime for the unit as well . Plus it is far safer as the operator is always under the canopy . A lot of our autonomous progress dates back to KGHM asking us to develop an automatic bolter for them in 2003 – which became the Roof Master 1.4 Automatic and on which we worked with J . H . Fletcher . It has a high thrust rotary drilling system incorporating dry drilling with dust collection . The patented drilling system uses separate drilling rods to drill a 1.2 m long hole in drifts only 1.6 m in height . The boom enables the drilling module to install bolts over a 5 m straight
Mine Master units under assembly at its state of the art facility in Wilkow , Poland line with the module also capable of angle bolting . We are also today working with J . H . Fletcher and KGHM to supply them new types of autonomous bolter to meet their current needs – by end-2023 we will have a new machine able to install 1.6 m bolts in 1.9 m seams ; plus 1.8 m bolts in 2.1 m seams . It will be capable of installing 10 bolts per hour .
Q Moving on to battery electric – you started testing of a BEV bolter with KGHM in 2021 – how did that project come about and what is the latest on your BEV plans ? A Actually we have been discussing battery machines as far back as the early 2000s . At that time we spoke with several battery suppliers plus we explored having electric wheel motors . But then , it was firstly not possible from a cost point of view to build the machine plus then there was not the market demand or drivers that there is now . The batteries alone would cost more than what a standard entire machine would cost . We restarted our project in 2017 which culminated in the new battery Roof Master 1.8KE being deployed in 2021 at KGHM ’ s Lubin mine . It is designed to work in galleries from 3 m to 5.8 m in height and is equipped with a 1.8 m mechanised bolting mast for nine bolts . The 120 kWh sodiumnickel battery installed on board the machine can be recharged by using the existing mine power network in the 500-1,000 V range plus energy recuperation is also possible during downhill tramming . This machine was followed by a battery Face Master jumbo , the FM 1.7LE , which also went to Lubin mine . The performance of these machines has given us a lot of confidence in future BEV machines – they work very well , both machines obviously working off a cable when drilling and off the battery when tramming . You can even if needed charge one battery machine partly with another which has a higher charge level . The bolter completed its year of testing then was bought by KGHM and now operates as part of the normal fleet . The drill rig is a few months into its testing . For 2024 , KGHM previously asked us to supply machines with a Euro Stage V engine instead of a Stage IIIA ; because they are going
16 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2023