Waratah Engineering was showing off the roadheader at AIMEX last week, which the New South Wales company has developed in conjunction with Germany-based Wirth.

The T1.14 roadheader features a rollover bolting system where a drilling system is integrated onto the machine. Waratah sales and marketing manager Terry Coggles told International Longwall News that Wirth and Waratah were careful that the bolting system was designed into the machine from the project conception.

"We fixed the fundamental cutting, conveying and traction elements of the roadheader and before the electric and hydraulic system designs were finalised we put in a roof bolting system with temporary roof support," Coggles said.

"This resulted in the roof bolting system being fully integrated into the machine design and not simply tacked on at the end as an afterthought.

"The advantage of this is that the machine can be configured for cutting and conveying while the bolter is stowed safely behind the roadheader turret and after cutting out one metre the bolter is deployed forward of the shovel so that bolting can occur.

"The roof and ribs can be bolted up within 1 metre of the face and the roadheader can cut and bolt at rates in excess of 2 metres per hour."

The Pike River operation has opted for a roadheader to give it flexibility when operating in steep grades where the 13m seam is at a gradient of 18 degrees.

The roadheader features a 180kW cutting head motor, has coal or stone cutting head options and horizon control display and data transmission capability.

The roadheader includes a 4m conveyor belt out the back of the machine where the coal is dropped into steel troughs (flumes) which run up the side of the roadways. Interestingly, the coal is mixed with four parts water and flows out of the mine without conveyors.

The roadheader has an onboard coal sizer to maintain a maximum coal size of no more than 200mm.

The machine was a partnership with Wirth, which developed the mechanical design and built the roadheader based on successful machines already operating around the world; Waratah supplied the hydraulic and electrical systems and bolting - with the help of Hydramatic Engineering.

Waratah Engineering will also deliver two Wirth H4.40 continuous miners to Pike River, which each have a cutting head 3.5m wide and are powered by two 180kW cutter motors. The traction system comprises two 45kW AC motors controlled by a variable frequency AC drive system.

Coggles said the machines were fitted with east/west conveyors and an onboard coal sizer similar to the roadheader.

Each machine is also fitted with two roof bolting rigs and two rib bolting rigs.

The orders are part of a $NZ12 million contract awarded to Waratah in September last year.

In other news, Waratah was appointed exclusive distributor of JH Fletcher's range of underground mining products in Australia and New Zealand on August 1.

Fletcher designs and manufactures roof drills, bolters, scaling machines, drill jumbos and mobile roof supports.

Waratah has appointed Phil Carr as Fletcher product manager. Carr has considerable experience with Fletcher, having previously worked for the company in Australia and China in a sales and service role.

"Waratah is convinced that excellent opportunities exist in Australia and New Zealand for the products that Fletcher can supply," Coggles said.