Trade Minister Senator Mark Vaile visited a number of Hunter Valley coal mining equipment suppliers last week in the lead up to a ten day Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) visit to China later this month.

Vaile visited longwall equipment suppliers Ampcontrol at its Tomago facility, Long-Airdox at Argenton and Hydramatic Engineering at Redhead.

Alan Broome, the chairman of the Austrade supported organisation Austmine (Australian Mining Equipment, Technology and Services), said Vaile's visit would help him gain an understanding of the goods and services on offer from Australian suppliers.

The mission plans to visit three of the largest mining sites in China: Yanzhou Mining Group Corp in Shandong; Yongcheng Coal Corp in Henan; and Shenhua Group's coalmines in Northern Shaanxi Province. The three companies have several projects worth millions currently under construction and these will also be visited.

Broome said all these projects were funded by Japanese energy loans and were using the very best of Western technology.