More than 200 delegates attended from 17 countries with 38% from overseas including about 8% from the United States. The Congress was run by the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) in July in Brisbane.

Congress chairman Dr Stewart Gillies said the congress provided a forum where ventilation professionals, mine operators, academics, consultants, labour and government met to review and debate the state of the art in mine ventilation, environmental control and monitoring, fires, explosions, and those allied disciplines impacting upon the health and safety of the miner.

Gillies was elected during the congress as incoming chairman of the International Mine Ventilation Congress Committee.

Immediate AusIMM past president Ian Goddard, in his keynote address, noted the changes that had taken place in ventilation engineering over the years.

“Through the years, there were major advances in the ability to monitor and operate ventilation circuits and devices; computer modelling of the increasingly complex circuits was developed; refrigeration was introduced, drawing heavily on South African practices; and all the time, systems were introduced to deal with the risk of underground fires,” he said.

Mines increasing production, electric power replacing diesels, mines going deeper and getting hotter were all factors affecting ventilation.

“Mine ventilation continues to be a consideration of major importance in the design and operation of mines,” Goddard said.

He also noted that the experience in the World Trade Centre evacuation, where the passage of people down fire escapes was restricted by the speed of the slowest, should be considered in mine evacuation.

“A comment was made about the level of fitness of the modern miner and his ability to climb ladders,” he said.

Second keynote speaker Tom McNider, general manager (ventilation) for Jim Walter Resources, reviewed ventilation practice in the US. (A summary of McNider’s paper has been published on ILN, see related links on left).

In the third keynote address, Gillies Wu Mining Technology director Stewart Gillies outlined ventilation practice in Australia.

Looking back to 1987, Gillies said predictions made by Dr Howard Hartman to be attained by 2002 included computerisation of mine ventilation in remote sensing and control; more elegant mathematics for ventilation calculations; legalised booster fans in US coal mines; generalised use of methane drainage during mining; widespread adoption of diesels in US coal mines; elimination of catastrophic disasters in mines; and a mining environment based on quality of life.

He reflected that some of these predictions had come to pass. Almost all coal mines use electronic gas sensors and occasionally air flow is measured. The same mines use tube bundle systems for gas monitoring behind seals.

Computer simulation of heat and refrigeration influence on the mine atmosphere is commonplace. Fire simulation software is now available.

Generalised use of methane drainage during mining is an accepted production practice in a large number of Australian coal mines. While booster fans were not popular in Australian coal mines in the 1980s and 90s, two mines recently purchased large-scale booster fan installations.

“Sensing, control and interlock systems are complex and it will be of interest to see if other mines follow the initiative,” he said.

Among those that were not accurate was the prediction that telemetric systems would be found in all mines, monitoring, controlling and ensuring the safety of all ventilated areas.

“Small steps have occurred in communications but automatic and remote response systems for regulation and control of fan pressure and quantity, airflow direction, regulator response and air door operation in general are in the future.

“We are a long way from the sophistication of the monitoring and control systems found in many mineral processing plants and coal washeries on mine sites.”

Gillies noted there had not been an elimination of catastrophic disasters in mines and referred to the Moura Number Two coal mine explosion of August 1994 that had a defining impact on the industry.

On developments in coal mining, Gillies said atmospheric inertisation was first introduced as a tool to fight fires but is now accepted as a component of the production cycle in some mines.

The inertisation industry now includes two Queensland GAG units; the NSW Mine Shield nitrogen apparatus; the Tomlinson boiler; and Pressure Swing Adsorption and Membrane units in use particularly for inerting sealed goafs.

“I am confident that there will be developments allowing improved real-time monitoring of ventilation parameters and particularly gases, respirable dust and airflow,” he said.

“Old worked out areas and goafs are becoming bigger. The issues they present are demanding thought and priority research.

“Understanding fires, simulation of fires and training the workforce will continue as a priority area.”