Published in the September 2010 Australian Longwall Magazine

The exhibition, held at the Mackay Showgrounds on July 27-29 in conjunction with the inaugural QME Mining Industry Conference at the adjacent Mackay Convention Centre, attracted high-calibre visitors from both longwall and open cut coal sectors.

QME 2010 was the largest in terms of space, covering 12,500 square metres, with most of the larger suppliers present.

Many of the nearby coal mines had allocated time to use the event as an educational and purchasing experience.

Suppliers, therefore, made it worth their while to be there in a prominent way, to maximise on the opportunity to tap into the Bowen Basin coal markets.

Politics and the global financial crisis took a back seat to innovations during the exhibition, with more than 50 new products launched at QME. The four largest exhibitors were Bucyrus, Atlas Copco, Sandvik and Inbye Mining.

Bucyrus used the exhibition to launch its Vibraguard longwall monitoring system in Australia, Bucyrus spokesperson Marie Winter said.

“This year’s QME has worked really well for us,” she said.

“We’ve been able to talk to several of our customers, such as operators and mine management. In addition, suppliers have been through the stand in good numbers all day long. Our major drawcards at QME have been our vibration monitoring system VibraGuard, our dome camera, which allows continuous monitoring of areas in a longwall face, our scale model display, and our training tool, the VAST shovel simulator which allows operators to learn about and train on the new equipment before they actually take ownership of it.”

Inbye Mining Services managing director Richard Eveleigh said there was an overwhelming and enthusiastic response to the company’s longwall mining equipment and this was sustained by the increasing demand for longwall mining, regardless of the political climate.

He said the demand was being driven by the need for continuous updating and project expansion as underground coal mining becomes more innovative.

“Obviously with the GFC, people were hesitant. Mines know their budgets now and they’re willing to spend. There’s more certainty about budgets now,” he said.

Underground mining contractor Master-myne, which listed on the ASX earlier this year, found the exhibition was the ideal venue to maintain the company’s profile in the Bowen Basin, where its flagship Moranbah North contract is located.

The company is so confident of the future, it is seeking to train “cleanskins” from outside the industry in longwall mining at a purpose-built facility at Mackay to help address the skills shortage in the industry, managing director Tony Caruso said.

The mood at the exhibition was upbeat with 10,700 visitors – up 5% on the previous show.

Many of the 550 exhibitors reported high levels of inquiries and, if not actually making sales on the spot, they received “strong levels of interest” even for big ticket items.

“The feeling was quite positive overall, we had a reasonably steady stream of visitors and we were pleasantly surprised by the seniority of many such visitors,” Becker managing director Tony Napier said.

Becker manufactures communications and tagging/collision avoidance systems through to flameproof electrical gear.

“We also had some pumps and so forth on a poster, which surprisingly generated a number of queries,” he said.

“Certainly we didn’t feel there was a GFC on, or that it just passed. Overall the level of enquiries was very high, perhaps the best we have had from a trade show.”

The federal government’s new resources tax and the uncertainty around the election seemed to have some impact on customers’ decisions to purchase equipment and transact business but this was abating, according to Napier.

“It did with Xstrata in Queensland, but I believe the project is now back on the agenda. There is still some uncertainty out there, so only time will tell,” he said.

Alfabs Mining Equipment’s Grahame Boulsover said that although the mood at the exhibition was “upbeat and positive” there was some lingering uncertainty.

“I’m not sure the boom times are back but the market is certainly looking positive. Customers don’t seem as cautious to spend,” he said.

Alfabs, which was promoting materials handling equipment and secondary bolters, was not greatly affected by the tax and election uncertainty, according to Boulsover.

“I don’t think so,” he said in regard to any negative effects of the tax on his customers willing to purchase equipment.

“Not in a hugely negative way. They still have businesses to run and coal to get to market, and our products help them achieve that. New developments, projects and investment might be different though.”

Ampcontrol national sales manager for Australia and New Zealand Peter Hardie said the company’s new electronics products, such as IS power supplies, IS lighting systems, gas detection and communication projects, attracted genuine interest and he detected an overwhelming positive attitude by the visitors.

“In a majority of cases – but certainly not all – most people were upbeat about the future and the way business was picking up in the short term, and in other cases long-term projects were the focus of others,” he said.

“The new resource rent tax, surprisingly, was given next to no air play from the customers who visited us at QME.”

Some said the interest by visitors at QME was generated by the underlying quality of the technology and the ingrained optimism of the resources industry.

BIS Industrial Logistics operations manager, underground division, Bernie Garrett said the company’s mobile elevating work platform with hydraulic canopy and 50-tonne mule generated a lot of attention.

“For BIS underground we never actually felt the negative effect of the GFC. Demand in equipment and the availability is still higher than supply,” he said.

Sandvik Mining and Construction Australia APC vice-president marketing Rob Lackner said Sandvik used QME to launch its new generation range of underground coal loaders, with its new LS151 and LS191 units on display. It also had on display its DR460 blastholedrill rig.

“These products attracted a lot of interest – in particular from operators impressed with their state-of-the-art features and ease of use,” he said.

Sandvik Mining and Construction marketing manager Kate Bills said QME 2010 had been the ideal venue for launching new products.

Sandvik’s DR460 open cut coal mining blast hole drill rig and its LS151 and LS191 underground coal LHDs were shown off at the exhibition.

The company had also opened its new Mackay facility in conjunction with QME and had 70 customers at the event, many from the show.

“We had good quality people in really good numbers; at times the stand has been absolutely packed,” Bills said.

“Some were existing customers, plus we had many new potential customers.

“We’ve also seen plenty of operators who are key to the decision-making process; that’s what’s so good about this show – that operators have the opportunity to come and look at the equipment that their employers are considering buying.

“It’s a chance for them to give feedback to us and the decision-makers at their minesites.”