Becker Vale will install and commission electrical equipment and control systems at Grosvenor, which is expected to produce 5 million tonnes per annum from its underground longwall operation over a projected life of 26 years.
First development coal is expected in 2013, with commissioning of the longwall planned in 2016.
This contract includes four flameproof substations and six flameproof direct circuit breakers (DCBs).
The Endis substations and DCBs are manufactured by Becker (SAIT) in France and accessorised at Becker Vale’s Moss Vale facility in New South Wales.
A second contract is to supply four flameproof ventilation fans. The Beck-Air 910 fans are the latest Becker Vale variant with noise attenuation and variant inlet-outlet diameters supplied on skids as opposed to the traditional wheel-based designs.
“Joy is the largest global provider of mining machinery for coal mines and the relationship will provide the underground coal market with electrical infrastructure from the portal to the working face,” Becker said in a statement to ILN.
“These contracts will see Becker Mining Systems become a dominant force in the supply of flameproof electrical equipment to the underground Australian coal market.”
Two new Anglo American hard coking mines, Grosvenor and Moranbah South, are planned to come on stream by 2020. Teamed with other brownfield expansions, these projects will take its total annual production of metallurgical coal to more than 24Mt in 2020.
