Ultimate Mining has packaged its software program – ULTIMINE – as part of the solution to increasing roadway development rates at mines.

Company director Matt Ryan says his vision for Ultimate Mining is to provide a “production management solution” and to “influence a new culture that drives accountability within the coal industry”

Since the software was first brought to fruition last year, it has been working at the United Collieries in New South Wales. The mine adopted the software as an inexpensive way to ensure development was managed within the mine’s own management logic, without relying on one individual to make it happen.

“ULTIMINE provides the tools that are required to do what you say you are going to do. It also measures the compliance to those set expectations on a shift to shift level,” Ryan said.

Ryan said the United Collieries had found improved communication to the front line supervisor and with the automated printing of specific documentation and standards has collectively saved time for shift supervisors.

The successful introduction of the software was due to the commitment of United Collieries operational and IT departments, Ryan said.

“The operation of the system in conjunction with our support is running well in advance of both parties’ expectations,” he said.

While no concrete figures of the software’s success have been released to date, Ryan expects United to be able to show figures upon completion of its 424 panel.

The birth of this software came about after Ryan, working in development for a number of years, realised several planning tools and strategies were used to manage the development process.

“Typically there are three development plans feeding the one overall weekly mine plan,” he said.

“The ULTIMINE suite was developed to allow development management to create one single plan. This single plan is then passed to the shift supervisors to manage the process on a shift level. ULTIMINE is the tool to allow personnel to work within the correct control spans.”

While planning is always undertaken for gate road development, the effectiveness of the planning relies on the ability of the development department to maintain up-to-date plans. While this may be easy on a monthly level, often operations come unstuck at the weekly and daily planning levels.

The software utilises a site’s process map, panel standards/guidelines and safety logic to ensure the panel is operated within the mine’s business logic and that expectations are communicated clearly to the production crews.

The initial set-up of ULTIMINE requires the input of the mine’s budgeted metres per hour in each support zone, as determined by geological exploration data; the layout of the panel; the mine’s roster and operating hours; maintenance shifts and non-production days; process map and panel guideline documentation; and the site specific safety logic.

This information sets the bar as the minimum performance standard for development and the minimum standard for the panel to be managed.

At United, the work order operating system shares data with ULTIMINE. All mechanical, electrical and statutory work planned for development is included in the ULTIMINE planning module, ensuring one single transparent plan.

Ryan said the software would suit any longwall gate road mine. He said a longwall module is currently being developed which he expects will provide the longwall department with the same benefits as realised by the development department with the software. This is due to be released in December this year.

In another development, Ultimate Mining has been working with Sandvik in building an interface between the onboard monitoring of Sandvik’s continuous miner (ABM25 S) and ULTIMINE. The companies have developed middleware to share data to create a 3D movie shift report.

“Sandvik are aware that their machine’s performance is only a part of a successful gate road panel,” Ryan said.

“The focus is on the whole process so linking with ULTIMINE will allow Sandvik to provide improved panel performance. The movie shift report will allow viewing of cutting cycles and the accuracy of delay reporting.”

To date, several other mines in NSW and Queensland are reviewing the installation of ULTIMINE. The successful installation at United Collieries is giving other sites confidence in the new operating system.