In May 2009, the mine extracted 961,891 tonnes from the longwall, beating the previous record of 955,049t set in November 2005 by the company’s Beltana operation.
Newlands, located in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, also took the weekly record away from Beltana with production of 251,720t in the week ending May 5, 2009.
Beltana still holds the daily record of 47,353t, set in November 2005 and achieved with a Bucyrus EL3000 shearer, though Newlands came close last month with a peak daily output of 45,935t from the longwall.
The Newlands longwall also uses a Bucyrus EL3000 shearer, with installed power of 1590kW and cutting power of 2 x 650kW.
The shearer has a Jumbotrack 2000 haulage system with haulage power of 2 x 125kW and is fully automation-capable.
The longwall is equipped with 147 two-leg roof supports with a yield load of 1040t and a working range of 3-5 metres.
The face conveyor is a Bucyrus PF4, 1332mm wide with a 42mm twin inboard chain and two 855kW CST drives.
The longwall is controlled by Bucyrus PM4 controllers. The 400kW PF4/1532 coal crusher and 400kW SK11/18 beam stage loader are also from Bucyrus.
Newlands produces export thermal coal from underground and open cut operations. It is located 130km west of Mackay and 171km by rail from the Abbot Point coal terminal.
