During September ZZM-Kopex bought a 50% equity stake in Maitland-based Inbye - providing a local subsidiary for the various ZZM-Kopex companies and also opening up the global longwall market to Inbye's Australian designed and manufactured chain conveyor products.

ZZM-Kopex's latest move has been to acquire a 49% share of Tiefenbach Polska, with discussions ongoing to increase its equity share.

While Inbye has long been the Australian arm of both Tiefenbach Control Systems and the ZZM-Kopex roof supports - manufactured by subsidiary TAGOR - the latest acquisition cements the corporate relationship between the three companies as a single entity, Inbye said.

"Integration of Tiefenbach and TAGOR has been practically demonstrated on a number of international longwall system projects, and combining under the ZZM-Kopex banner further improves the seamless interface of both technical and commercial project elements," Inbye said.

Tiefenbach manufactures the Tibatronic control system, together with its ASG5 shield control unit, which provides a complete longwall roof support automation solution.

Inbye added the deal also gave the companies an opportunity to deliver to international markets a CSIRO Landmark Automation platform currently under joint development in Australia by Inbye, Tiefenbach and ZZM-Kopex.

"A primary goal of the team is to be the first LASC platform which remains faithful to the open architecture of the Landmark Information System (LIS), ensuring interconnectivity of equipment without communication protocol converters, a vital requirement in markets where single-sourcing of equipment is not so prevalent," Inbye said.

"Inbye is leading a local project team which includes Tiefenbach, Eickhoff and MI Power input; however, ZZM-Kopex has considerable technical and corporate resources to drive this project, and has most to gain by developing a commercialised version of the CSIRO system as a spearhead into developing markets such as China, where they are a turnkey longwall system supplier."