The construction of the $227 million stage 1 Narrabri development is complete.
First coal production was achieved by continuous miner in June 2010 and the second continuous miner went underground two months later.
These days, four continuous miners are operating underground.
The $300 million stage 2 development is underway with associated surface works, including the coal handling and preparation plant and fan shaft, nearing completion.
The longwall is being constructed with a view to starting production in April.
“The specification was extremely demanding in terms of full system supply, in particular the expected automation capabilities and deliverables” Kevin Parsons told Australian Longwall Magazine.
“Narrabri really pushed us towards the next level. They considered where longwall automation has been and where the mine expected it to be in terms of remote operation capabilities, particularly visualisation [of] remote monitoring capability to the personal proximity detection system – they made that a reality.”
Wireless access, stations, points across the face and the personal proximity detection system are going to be the first installed systems operational in the longwall.
“It’s been quite a challenge getting the functionality and the specification correct but a lot of credit must be attributed to the collaborative approach between the OEM and the Narrabri stakeholders to help get the functionality of the equipment correct,” Parsons said. “It’s a very sensible staged approach.”
As a result of the time needed to deliver a fully functional personnel proximity detection system, Caterpillar recommended two third-party providers of such technologies to meet the client’s specifications.
“We would’ve preferred to sell them a proprietary system but at that point in time, our technology advancement was to an extent that we were unable to do so, hence we approached a third party to assist with the system supply.
Narrabri’s assistance in terms of selection of equipment providers was invaluable and ultimately we opted for the minesite technologies system,” Parsons said.
“We have since evolved and our own R&D investment has resulted in us developing our own proprietary system – that proprietary system will be supplied on future longwalls.
“We had been looking at our own personal proximity for maybe the last seven years. But the learnings from the Narrabri supply really encouraged us to put a specific business plan in place to ensure our system was developed specifically for longwall mining applications.
“There’s been a lot of development, we’ve looked at it primarily for equipment, so for continuous miners and various things, shuttle cars etcetera. We’ve done a lot of trials underground, particularly in the US, specifically to help develop the things specifically to their own capabilities.”
In terms of the readiness of the Narrabri equipment, the longwall is gearing up to be fully operational by the end of the April. The project is one of the major longwalls in NSW with a total value of about $130 million.
“Narrabri has driven through arguably one of the largest electrical portions of longwall supplies that has ever been through their high-end investment and nominated automation deliverables,” Parsons said.
“It’s a significant investment in terms of the mine. And it represents a big statement to where they believe they want to be in terms of longwall automation and safety.”
The company is also looking at more advanced techniques such as longwall top coal caving at Narrabri.
“They’ll have a look at the characteristics over the initial blocks and hopefully, should conditions be favourable, they’ll look to adopt the TCC method” Parsons said.
“The roof support has been specifically designed for a simple retrofit, so simplistically we’re only really talking about an additional caving shield with the electro hydraulics already being configured for seamless integration in the future.
“The conveyor was also optimised in terms of main gate and tail gate drive configuration so that we are able to utilise as much of the conventional system supply as we possibly could, should the retrofit be viable.”
The concept for the retrofitting works again adopted a collaborative approach, with the Narrabri team bringing some invaluable input through their previous experience and also inspections of other operations.
“Top coal caving is a significant investment,” Parsons said.
“Narrabri realised this so they ensured that their specifications and equipment configurations were originally specified to consider a readily acceptable upgrade to the top coal caving system.”
Parsons said the safety aspects were considered by the mine and safety was the number one priority.
“I wouldn’t say there’s any additional risk to the equipment design configuration for the top coal caving,” he said.
“In terms of the OEM and the risk management activities employed to date, we have ensured to the best of our abilities that the requirement to retrofit a TCC system has not compromised equipment safety standards. It’s proven technology that operates quite well here in Australia at Austar coal mine and also in China.”
Caterpillar recently took over Bucyrus, which had the initial contract with Whitehaven.
Parsons said the transition had been seamless.
“It’s quite an exciting time for everyone associated with Caterpillar,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of focus put on the underground product. The key is to understand how such products will fit into the Caterpillar business model.
“Caterpillar have definitely shown by their actions that they are keen to make the product fit their proven business model. They have a desire to promote and gain an understanding of the underground mining systems. Everyone that we’ve talked with to date has been very positive about such matters.
“Caterpillar’s number one goal is to retain and develop their employees’ understanding and knowledge of the underground mining systems to help support the product in the field. This is reflected within our commitment to Narrabri to put a serious presence in the Gunnedah Basin region.
“In terms of future supplies, the specification that Narrabri has elected for is now the benchmark of longwall systems.
“These supports were supplied compliant to the nominations of MDG41, incorporated the supply of SSKV fittings, are equipped with the latest motion detection system, which also offers canopy height measurement and were fitted with a 450mm leg cylinder providing a shield capacity of 1362 tonnes.
The US Mines Safety and Health Administration and the NSW Department of Trade and Industry have made automation and proximity detection an issue to be taken seriously.
“There’s a huge amount of focus on it and again we’re continually evolving.
“Our customers are working with developing what they believe is a benefit to our product – we’re always happy to listen and see if we can assist them.
“We remain focused in the areas of autonomous equipment operation. We’re always looking to keep ourselves at the forefront of technology and are undertaking advancements in our equipment to deliver an even better a product.”
