The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the AJ Lucas Group, was awarded a gas drainage contract at the MIM Oaky North mine in the Bowen Basin, Queensland. Most recently it won a second long-term gas drainage project for the North Goonyella mine, also in central north Queensland. This follows the purchase last year of the assets of gas drainage company AC Drill, which previously serviced North Goonyella.

A company spokesman said the North Goonyella contract provided an opportunity for the company to test new technology from the civil engineering discipline, designed to lower drilling risk and improve mine safety. AJ Lucas are currently involved in testing new systems and methodologies for inseam drilling, and are working with the CMTE on ACARP projects related to soft coal drilling and water jet cross-panel drilling.

“The award of these contracts places Coal Technologies amongst the premier coal seam gas drainage companies in Australia and in a strong position to win further work,” the company said in a statement.

Coal Technologies currently has as many as half a dozen other tenders out for work, including conventional inseam drainage jobs in advance of a longwall and for surface to in-seam drilling prospects at greenfield coal seam methane gas sites. The company also hopes to extend its expertise from drilling/drainage to gas utilisation and associated infrastructure.

Coal Technologies was established by Lucas in June 2000 to provide in-seam drilling services to the coal industry, to capitalise on its Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) expertise. To service its rapidly expanding Queensland customer base, the company is planning to open a regional office in Mackay.