A number of new mining methods, such as LTCC and wider faces, have ramped up this year in Australia. What are the ramifications of this now and in the long term?

Ramifications for LTCC are considered to be improved coal recovery and improved face control due to lower cutting height. No specific reports of reliability issues have been reported which will certainly help ease the fears of other operators who may be considering using the system.

Subsidence issues will need to be considering the system although conversely the system may allow thinner, otherwise uneconomical seams to be extracted.

Regarding wider faces, the main impact that LWTCC and Wide Faces will have is the potential to address the LW retreat to development ratio which has become more of an issue in recent years as development rates have struggled to keep up with the increased performance of LW faces.

From a geotechnical point of view, Strata Engineering is heavily involved with Ulan Mine working primarily in the design of all their roadway support.

At the present time there is no conclusive evidence to say whether the wider face has had a significant impact on the general geotechnical environment however Strata Engineering is hoping to instigate an industry sponsored project in the near future to investigate the effects that the wider face will have on the stability of roadways and pillars.

A number of junior and mid-tier coal explorers and producers are currently carrying out exploration, feasibility studies and bringing mines onto line. What does this mean for consultants, and for the Australian industry as a whole?

The junior and mid-tier companies generally rely more heavily on consultants that some of the larger players who maintain in-house experience. That said, they tend to have a much shorter outlook which means that consultants such as Strata Engineering tend to be more involved in the technical and legislative issues related to setting up the mine and putting in place the necessary strata management systems.

For the industry as a whole, the emergence of new mines gives a more dynamic feel to the coal mining sector and this will hopefully help remove the perception that possibly exists of coal mining being un-modern and unnecessary industry. There has certainly been a noticeable upsurge recently in the number of younger people interested in taking up a career in coal mining.

In your eyes what is the most important R&D project (private or publicly funded) happening at the moment and why?

For the industry as a whole, the various "Clean Coal" research initiatives currently underway worldwide are probably the most important.

However for a geotechnical company such as Strata Engineering the major push in terms of R&D have been in terms of improving downtime and increasing development performance as well of course in improving safety related aspects.

In the industry as a whole, ACARP funded research into roadway development is also being undertaken in order to ensure that development continues to keep pace with the increases in LW productivity which has itself been driven by ongoing research into LW automation. In recent years Strata Engineering has been involved in a number of LW recovery roadway projects.

These can significantly reduce the turnaround time of a LW face as well as provide safety related benefits as the method does not require the “bolt up” of the longwall face in front of the powered supports as this in effect is done as part of the formation of the recovery road.

What progress has been made in improving the way roof falls are managed?

Major changes to the way in which the prevention of roof falls is managed have occurred in recent years.

Probably the most significant is the implementation of Strata Management Systems that empower and train the operators to make decisions on the required roof support. In addition, cheap and reliable roof monitoring equipment allows a large numbers of monitoring stations to be installed.

The simplicity of these instruments and wide-spread knowledge of spreadsheet software means that results can be read and interpreted on a “shiftly” basis and do not necessarily have to sent off-site for expert interpretation.

Strata Engineering is heavily involved at an operational level with a number of mines in assisting them in preparing a series of support designs to cover the whole range of anticipated ground conditions.

This, coupled with appropriate training, means that there is no longer simply one set of "minimum support rules" but rather a series of support designs that the operators themselves are empowered to select.

Roof mapping and recording of roof behaviour has also developed considerably in recent years such that predictions of likely future roof behaviour can be projected forward to the next panel, thus enabling at least a preliminary evaluation of future roof support requirements.

How big an impact are consultants making on the strategic direction of companies and mines as the role of the consultant grows in the face of the continuing skills shortage?

Unfortunately the shortage of skills in the mining industry effects consultants as well as mining companies and to some degree we are fighting over the same scarce resource. To a certain extent we have found that consultants are becoming the "repository" of geological and geotechnical knowledge for the mine because their own staff turnover rates have increased.

It is also noted that younger mine-site staff are being fast-tracked to senior positions on the mine-site which means they may be obtaining only a superficial understanding of some of the peripheral mining skills such as geotechnical engineering. In this environment the role of the external consultant becomes more crucial to the day to day operation of the mine.

How have the strict NSW occupational health and safety laws impacted consultants and your clients?

As the mine operators have responsibility for our staff working on-site, we have found a greater need to conform with the specific requirements of each individual mine site. Specific training and inductions are required for each mine site in addition to the generic industry-wide inductions.

With the government promising a shift to “clean coal” what impact will this have on your business and the landscape of Australian coal as a whole?

The clean coal technology whilst not impacting us directly as a geotechnical consultancy could have significant consequences for the whole of the Australian coal industry. Development approvals may be slowed and the capital costs of new projects may be increased if the cost of new technology is transferred to the coal industry.

If clean coal requirements are not implemented on a global scale then the Australian coal mining industry may find itself less competitive in the global marketplace.