Conference chairman Naj Aziz told International Longwall News he had received very complimentary feedback on the conference which saw authors presenting many of the 40 research papers made available.
Highlights from the conference included big, but amicable, discussions on ground control, particularly in relation to Mark Colwell and Russell Frith’s report Analysis of Longwall Tailgate Serviceability 2009 – A ten year journey, said Aziz.
New technological developments were unveiled in the research paper on using polymer to replace wire mesh in Geotechnical assessment of polymeric materials as skin reinforcement in underground mines, lead authored by Dr Jan Nemcik.
Another standout paper presented was Outcomes of the independent inquiry into impacts of underground coal mining on natural features in the Southern Coalfield – An overview by established researcher Professor Bruce Hebblewhite.
The chairman said John Rowland delivered an exceptional paper, Moving the ventilation report into the 21st century.
Aziz was involved with four papers presented, including Outburst Threshold Limits – Are they appropriate?, a research paper also authored by Dennis Black and Raul Florentin.
Longwall-focused papers also included Development of a pre-driven recovery evaluation program for longwall operations authored by David Wichlacz, Tim Britte and Basil Beamish and Stresses in the immediate stone roof of a coal mine roadway by analytical-method advocate Dr Ross Seedsman.
After flying over from England, ArcelorMittal coal operations general manager Maarten Velzeboer opened the conference with his presentation Technology transfer, best practice and adapting to local expectations in a technically challenging environment.
Delegates from China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan and the UK attended this year’s conference which was jointly organised by the University of Wollongong Mining Group, AusIMM’s Illawarra Branch, and the Mine Managers Association of Australia.
Sponsorship of the event came from Xstrata Coal, BHP Billiton, Ellton Group, Gujarat NRE Minerals, Northern Light Technologies and Minova.
Attendees of the conference also passed the hat around and donated $1600-$1700 to the Red Cross’s appeal for victims of the Victorian bush fires, including $500 from sponsor NLT.
Aziz said the results of the conference were very good and demonstrated the tremendous outcome of research from the University of Wollongong. More than one-third of the papers presented were Australian Coal Association Research Program-funded projects.
Aziz said next year’s Coal2010 Conference will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the operators’ conference.
The conference was preceded with a half-day short course by Seedsman on an analytical approach to designing roof and rib support for longwall mining.
