Organisers said the themes of the conference reflected the industry’s need for technical papers about issues of importance to longwall operators.

Key topics to be addressed are new mine developments; examining and overcoming strata, geotechnical, horizon control and roadway development issues; automation, maintenance and improving productivity; and minimising longwall mining accidents

Key presentations are:

Mark O’Neill, Executive Director, Australian Coal Association, looks at “Sustainability - Does coal have a future in a carbon constrained world?”

Clyde Henderson, Director, Energy Economics questions “Where are longwalls headed into the future?”, with reference to demand and supply in the world coal market.

International case studies feature an overview of the Shanxi Asian American-Daning Energy Company’s new Daning mine in China, the first foreign company to secure mining rights in China.

Enlow Fork’s Bill Stewart, overviews the US mine’s ten year production history, and describes the mine’s elimination of downtime in conveyors.

Australian case studies feature technical overviews on Springvale Coal, West Wallsend Colliery, Southland Colliery, and Glennies Creek.

David Moult, General Manager Operations, Centennial Coal, will overview the company’s recent purchase of the Powercoal mining operations (including three longwalls) from the NSW government.

Greg Rowan, recently Chief Inspector, Queensland Department of Natural Resources & Mines, will describe the outcomes of the Level One Emergency Event, to be conducted in October at a Queensland mine. These events are major tests of the emergency procedures mines have in place and provide a wealth of safety lessons.

CSIRO's Mick Kelly provides an update on current R&D related to longwall mining, with special reference to the automation project.

Wade Kathage, General Manager, SBD Services will talk about rapid longwall changeouts and examine the relative merits of outsourcing or keeping this inhouse.

Two interactive, panel-type sessions have been included. The first is a discussion around approvals for intrinsically safe (IS) equipment.

Statutory testing authorities, SIMTARS and TESTSAFE, will be providing a workshop session about the IS approval process. Each presenter will provide a 10 minute update followed by a 20 minute open floor discussion.

The second roundtable addresses the issue of Equipment maintenance, - the "real" issues behind the 10-15 million per annum spent on maintenance in longwall mining.

To be facilitated by Owen Kreilis, director Southern Engineering Services, panelists include Andrew Richmond, Managing Director, DBT and Colin Merriman, General Manager – NSW, Joy Mining Machinery.

A joint session on Improving conveyor reliability by WBM will look at AFCs, main gate and trunk conveyors.

Four interactive workshops will be run before and immediately after the conference on November 26 and 29. Workshop 1 is “The Longwall & Mining Productivity (LAMP) Review & Improvement Process”, lead by Paul Chesher, Managing Director, Business Improvement Australia, Brian Nicholls, Managing Director, Brian Nicholls Mining, Brad Strahan, Psychologist and Managing Director, Brad Strahan and Associates.

Presenters said the workshop examined what happened after the investment in a longwall is made, and the challenge of maintaining and improving technical and human performance in the long term. This workshop will introduce longwall miners to the LAMP review and continuous improvement process.

Workshop 2 (November 26) is called “Assessment of remote control operating risk and how to practically manage it,” lead by Peter Standish, principal, Safe Production Solutions.

The workshop aims to equip operators with solid preventative safety and maintenance strategies for effective risk management underground.

On November 26, Workshop 3 is ”The Longwall strata control workshop”. Lead by longwall consultant Nick Wills, this interactive workshop has evolved in presentations given to longwall mines around the world. Wills specializes in making the ‘black box’ of strata management accessible to face workers in a practical and easy to apply approach.

The final workshop 4, is Technical overview and implementation of cutting methods in different environments, lead by Andy Rutherford, director Andrew Rutherford and Chris Wilkinson, managing director John T Boyd Australia.

For full program details please see: www.iir.com.au/conferences/?webpage=longwall-info