The conference boasted 130 attendees, with up to 80% operators, reflecting the practical nature of the presentations and high caliber of speakers.

Case studies from Beltana operations manager Greg Pawley, United longwall superintendent Phil McNamara, Springvale and Angus Place mine manager Bob Miller and former-Newlands operations manager Darren Nicholls on the first day proved particularly popular with attendees.

Palaris consultant Ian Stone spoke on improving strata control.

Chris Silver and Heine Booysen from South Africa’s Matla number 3 mine spoke on their impressive shortwall record, making a few Australian’s jealous over their good conditions boasting 7.5m roadways with very little support.

Xstrata eastern underground operations manager Glen Lewis provided a more light-hearted look at the serious subject of longwall incidents over the years, whilst Xstrata’s Shaun Shepherd gave some insight into his award-winning 3D monitoring innovation.

Nick Wills’ presentation was also on the lighter side, where he managed to incorporate flying into the subject of longwalls.

Day two saw further case studies from Tahmoor general manager Ray Johnson, BHP underground strategy and development manager Guy Mitchell, Dartbrook general manager Tim Hobson, and Westcliff gas drainage coordinator David Benson.

Speaking on the research end, AGE Mining Services spoke about their pit and bit technology, CRC Mining’s Hal Gurgenci presented some ideas on maintenance and CSIRO’s Mick Kelly gave a rundown on the major milestones reached by the ACARP Landmark Automation project.

Detailed reports on a selection of the presentations will be published on International Longwall News and Australian Longwall Magazine in the coming months.