After a nine-month gestation period, the Hunter Valley mine has commenced its build-up to full-scale longwall production.

Since the rebirth of the Southland mine in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales was signalled in mid-1998 by new owners Gympie Gold, the dust stirred up by frenetic activity on site has barely settled. A nine-month gestation period ended with last month’s successful commissioning of the first longwall panel, Southland 1.

Contractor Colrok, a subsidiary of German group Thyssen Schachtbau GmbH, was brought in to operate the mine, new longwall and development equipment has been bought and installed, and long-term sales agreements have been concluded. With everything in place it is now time to wait and see whether the mine can deliver everything its stakeholders are hoping for.

Gympie managing director Harry Adams points to three main “strategic achievements” underpinning the mine’s revitalisation. Of primary importance was the new greenfields enterprise agreement negotiated with the CFMEU which gave Colrok the opportunity to effect a radical culture shift at the site. The mine, which now employs on merit, currently operates with only about 90 employees. The result is much shorter chains of command and greater delegation of responsibility to people at all levels of the operation.

“The workforce enjoys this (system) because it respects their knowledge base and it allows management to respond quickly to changes underground,” Adams said.

He said entrenched systems of custom and practice dominated by mistrust had been replaced by greater openness, which had resulted in higher levels of productivity than had ever been achieved at the old mine.

“The bottom line is that our longwall productivity has been between 4000-4500 tonnes per shift and Ellalong could never achieve that. Our single heading development advance rates are averaging about 11m per shift and Ellalong was doing about 4m. It would be unfair to say that it’s just because it’s managed differently. There has been new equipment, but it is now a different style of operation,” Adams said.

Longwall productivity figures derive from one month of operation on a half-finished longwall block, 13A, abandoned by Oakbridge. But according to Adams, the figures are indicative of the production potential of the Southland longwall. Initial output is expected to be about 100,000t per month.

Southland’s third major strategic achievement has been the identification of a relatively easy to develop panel on the west side of the Ellalong lease, alongside the existing main underground roadways. Development of this area brought longwall production six months ahead of the previous mine plan. Last year, using advanced in-seam directional drilling technology, Colrok cleared the 1mt longwall panel previously thought to contain a large fault, for mining. However, even after extensive drilling an unforeseen geotechnical problem emerged during development of the single entry panel. “We had drilled out longwall SL 1 before we committed to its development and found a few small faults,” Adams said.

“We concluded we could just drive straight through them. But when we got to one of them (during development) we came upon a sedimentary sill intruding into the panel and the thickness was a bit of a surprise to us. That required a battle stations approach and some innovative thinking to allow the intrusion to be negotiated effectively.”

Adams attributed rapid resolution of the problem to the healthy relationship mine owner and contractor.

“So far the performance of Colrok has been terrific,” he said. “The relationship with Colrok provides for fluid and rapid decision making when we strike problems. Secondly, the style of their operation and processes means we can cope with problems much better than we did before.”

The success of the working relationship has lead in recent months to preliminary discussions between Gympie and Thyssen to explore “broadening the current arrangement beyond Southland.” Short term, Gympie is focussed on getting the longwall up and running to reach projected throughput levels of 2mtpa. Any mine infrastructure that obstructed this goal, such as coal clearance plant and equipment, would be progressively replaced, Adams said.

“Agenda number two,” he said, “is to look beyond Southland itself at other collieries. Greta Seam coal, being a natural for blending, has had companies built around it before and that will happen again.”

Being expansionary both on site and within the industry is a good reason Gympie wants to talk turkey with Thyssen. Colrok’s parent has an appetite for expansion through acquisition and has made successful inroads locally through its other subsidiary, hard-rock mining contractor Byrnecut Mining in Western Australia. From Gympie’s point of view, given the technical and financial backing of an international group such as Thyssen, and given there are ready markets for Greta Seam coal as a “value-added” blending coal, expansion beyond the Southland tenements is a logical step.

Both Adams and Colrok’s managing director, Brian Woolnough, admitted discussions were underway. A proposal is being reviewed by the Thyssen board, but all parties are keeping cards close to chests at this stage. It is no secret that Southland is something of a showpiece for Colrok and the company is using the opportunity to push the technological envelope. Woolnough said the development of the next 2km panel for mining in about a year would see Colrok use innovative single-entry development, with a 500m raise-drilled shaft to surface providing services before main mine services were connected.

“This method of working has the potential to allow for much longer single entry drives than have previously been attempted,” Woolnough said. “After the colliery has been operating for the next 3-4 years forward planning calls for output to be ramped from the initial 1mt to 3mt, depending on the market condition for sales.

“In the immediate future, work will start on installing a coal bin underground, and an order has been placed for a second Joy 12CM30 to replace the 12CM5 on development work.

“The 12CM5 will then be used as support for coal augering trials, which will selectively access areas of coal close to existing infrastructure not otherwise winnable, and also for coal product management. These trials, a joint venture between Colrok and Coal Auger Australia, could produce up to 2000t a week with just nine men, augering in up to 50m with a 1.5m-diameter auger from single entries developed by the Joy 12CM5.”

The next few months will be crucial for Southland, as well as for Gympie and Colrok, but with the “homework” behind them, a well-prepared block of coal in production, a committed workforce and markets ready to receive coal, perhaps the odds have shifted in their favour.