Austral Coal's first quarter
NSW based coal miner Austral Coal reports continued problems from the previous quarter were the main reason ROM production from the Tahmoor colliery was 12% under budget.
Gas related outages and poor roof conditions continued to affect production but operating strategies and procedures have been developed to overcome these problems and the company said production is now proceeding at planned rates.
Most noteably, Tahmoor has a development float eight weeks ahead of the longwall, the result of employing fixed term development crews.
"Mine development has been maintained at significantly improved rates compared to last year with a total of 2,267 metres completed. This excellent performance from both Tahmoor development crews and the specialist fixed term crews has recovered the development lag resulting from the need to develop through a number of zones of high gas. Mine development is now approximately 8 weeks ahead of longwall extraction," the company said.
Longwall panel 18, containing 2 million tonnes ROM, has been fully developed with installation of services and is ready for the longwall changeover. Mining of panel 17 will be completed in mid May and it is expected that panel 18 will be fully commissioned and operating at full capacity by the end of June.
Gas drilling and drainage activities were well ahead of mining with drilling of panel 19 nearing completion. A total of 12,490 metres were completed in the quarter.
