EASE Work With Manufacturer To Modify Underground Mining Equipment

ANGLO AMERICAN's Grosvenor, Moranbah North and Grasstree Coal Mines have approached Emerald Air Starters & Equipment's Workshop Department looking to improve the efficiency of their underground mining operations - specifically seeking a product[s] that would allow them to more easily mount and re-position their longwall face drills on the Armored Face Conveyor (AFC) or Pan Line. The Pan Line collects loosened coal that has fallen from the cutting face and removes it from the work area via a conveyor belt. A video illustrating this process can be viewed at the bottom of this case study. Grosvenor is an underground metallurgical coal mine, located in Moranbah, QLD which began operating in 2014. Metallurgical coal, the key raw material for nearly 70% of the world’s steel making industry includes hard coking coal, semi-soft coking coal and PCI coal. A 980 metre-long conveyor transports the coal to the surface of the mine. Moranbah North is an underground longwall mine which began operating in 1998. Located in Moranbah, QLD the mine has coal reserves amounting to 261 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Asia and the world. The mine has an annual production capacity of 8 million tonnes of coal, with extraction occurring roughly 200 metres below the surface. The Grasstree underground coal mine is located near the town of Middlemount, 200 kilometres north west of Rockhampton, in central Queensland's Bowen Basin. Coal from the Grasstree Mine is mined and then transported by a series of conveyor belts that transport it a distance of over six kilometres to reach the surface. The problem Anglo American faced, along with most other underground longwall mining operations, was that traditionally the Longwall Face Drill (LFD) is secured to the pan line with static LFD 'Turrets'. This meant each time the longwall needed to be moved, the LFD and LFD Turrets had to be manually detached, moved into their new position and secured to the pan line. This increased the amount of equipment downtime and also meant more manual labour was required each time to bolt the LFD and LFD Turrets into position. Anglo American were confident EASE could deliver a solution to their problem having worked together for many years they knew EASE always aim to provide the sale / service of suitable mining equipment that both maximises service life and minimises downtime. Importantly, to improve levels of equipment utilisation whilst reducing planned / unplanned maintenance downtime increases the overall productivity of an underground coal mine. Since 2001 Emerald Air Starters & Equipment have been Queensland's sole authorised sales and servicing agent for RAMBOR Mining Equipment. RAMBOR Pty Ltd (incorporating King Cobra Mining Equipment) is an Australian manufacturer of specialised mining equipment who is globally recognised as an industry leader in the coal mining sector. In December 2014 PPK Group Limited acquired Firefly International, a local Australian manufacturer of underground mining products. With RAMBOR Pty Ltd already a part of the PPK Group, EASE successfully negotiated the extension of their existing RAMBOR sales/servicing agreement to now include all PPK Firefly Mining Equipment. This expansion of the EASE/PPK distribution agreement has led to a number of direct benefits for the Queensland coal mining industry. Case in point, EASE were instrumental in facilitating changes/improvements to PPK Firefly's range of LFD Turrets. EASE reps initially visited the three Anglo American coal mines and then began discussions with PPK Firefly to develop a new ROLLING LFD Turret that could be fitted to most brands and sizes of pan lines. This eliminated the need to lift the LFD Turrets off the pan line to re-position each time a move was required. EASE provided Anglo American's forthright feedback on specific product operational requirements & underground suitability specifications - from this manufacturing began on the new PPK RAMBOR Rolling LFD Turret! Since the start of 2017 eight Rolling LFD Turrets have been supplied to Grosvenor, Moranbah North and Grasstree mines with all sites reporting a substantial reduction in the time needed to shift the longwall during operation. Numerous other Bowen Basin coal mines have expressed interest in utilising this new innovative product in their longwall operations. Click here to view the FULL range of MINING EQUIPMENT currently available at EASE.