Published in Australia's Longwalls
In Australian mines, world leader Kennametal currently has the lion’s share of the market, supplying 19 of the 25 active longwall mines. In some instances a mine may have two different sets of drums supplied by different manufacturers.
Southern Engineering Services (SES) is the Australian agent for UK-based Hydra Mining Tools, which manufactures drums at the company’s South Yorkshire facility. Hydra has drums in five Australian longwall mines.
Of the three original equipment manufacturers (OEM) of shearers – DBT, Eickhoff and Joy Mining Machinery – Joy is the only group that manufactures its own drums. Joy has drums at two mines and will be supplying a set with the Tahmoor shearer to be delivered later this year.
Last year, US OEM, Longwall Associates Australia, secured its first order for drums from the Southland longwall mine, which has since closed. The drums were designed and built at the Chihowie, Virginia headquarters of Longwall Associates’ sister company C&A Cutter Head, founded in 1989 by Clyde Hutzell and Longwall Associates principal Tony Campbell.
In the US, C&A claim to have around 28% of that country’s original equipment and rebuild shearer drum market and also offer their own line of block and sleeves.
C&A drums are available in three start, four start, and six start designs with either conical or radial bit block designs. Vanes, face ring and drum barrel are manufactured from Certified A-36 steel while barrels are rolled, joint welded 100% and re-rolled for precise concentricity.
In addition, the discharge ends of vanes have full coverage of three-quarter-inch-thick AR 400 plate topped with three-quarter-inch chromium carbide plates, extending 2ft up the vane length.
Longwall Associates Australia managing director, Peter van Iersel, told Australia’s Longwalls the company had plans to manufacture C&A shearer drums from its Mackay facility within 12-18 months.
Meanwhile, Sandvik has announced its intention to manufacture and refurbish shearer drums at its Newcastle workshops and offer a refurbishment service from its Emerald facilities.
“Sandvik's soft minerals cutting division, Mineral Ground Tools, is clearly the market leader in the supply of point attack tools (bits) on longwall drums and continuous miners in Australia,” said Darren Webb, general manager of the division.
“We manufacture locally and work with our customers to provide the best possible solutions, and this has seen us gain a majority market share in the consumable market. We now wish to carry that through to cutting drums as well. We see real advantages in combining our strengths.”
Last year Sandvik formed a joint venture with Advanced Cutting Systems, (ACS) a US company with 19 years of experience in drum manufacture.
ACS will provide the intellectual property and designs for its proven product, while Sandvik plans to manufacture in Newcastle and refurbish drums at both its Newcastle and Emerald facilities.
“We see a real advantage in being able to manufacture in Newcastle, and in particular refurbish in the heart of the New South Wales and Queensland coal regions,” Webb said. “Our customers will be better able to inspect their drums at the various stages of manufacture or refurbishment.”
ACS says its shearer drum incorporates special design features such as heavy-duty welds on all blocks and drum structure. ACS provides various dust suppression spray systems, including pick-face, back-face, dual sprays and vane throat sprays as a means of auxiliary dust control.
While some observers welcome more competition, others believe the market is too small to sustain more players. Time will tell.
