With China known for its gassy mines, the first contract was a $2.4 million order for a directional drilling and methane gas drainage system from Industrea subsidiary Advanced Mining Technologies, along with associated training and equipment, for the Sihe coal mine in Shanxi province.

The second contract with Jincheng was for two of Industrea’s 50-tonne longwall roof support carriers to supply the Zhaozhuang coal mine in the province.

With spares and tools provided, Industrea said the contract came to $2.6 million.

Industrea managing director and chief executive Robin Levison said the new contracts enhanced its already successful relationship with Jincheng, which started back in 2003.

“The size of Jincheng Group’s overall operations present significant opportunities for further sales for the 2009-2010 financial year and beyond, based on the strength of the relationship between the two companies,” Levison said.

“The recent establishment of our product support centre in the country is already paying dividends in repeat sales. We anticipate further new business in China as we build a solid order book for our market-leading mining safety and productivity equipment in the new fiscal year.”

Jincheng will now be operating 11 of AMT’s directional drilling and methane gas drainage systems throughout China.

Sales for gas drainage equipment have been boosted by a Chinese gas safety campaign launched in April.

Failing to meet the regulations can result in mine closure, and the campaign targets coal operations producing more than 300,000 tonnes annually.

Group production for Jincheng totals around 40 million tonnes of coal per annum, with the Sihe coal mine accounting for 10Mtpa and Zhaozhuang reaching 8Mtpa.

Industrea shares are down half a cent to 22c.