Produced by DMS at its Beresfield facility near Newcastle, the company has also sold Coaltrams to Centennial Coal, Donaldson Coal, BHP Illawarra Coal, BHP Mitsubishi Alliance, Mastermyne, WDS Contractors, Gujarat NRE Coking Coal, Xstrata Coal and UGM Contractors.

With indicative orders for another 25 Coaltrams over the next few months, DMS believes they are becoming the underground diesel vehicle of choice for the Australian coal industry.

“The Atlas Copco Coaltrams are Australian vehicles for Australian conditions and the industry is quickly realising the competitive advantage they provide in delivering long term cost savings, as well as productivity and efficiency gains,” DMS underground coaltram general manager Craig Anderson said.

“The Queensland and New South Wales coal industries have really embraced these vehicles and the more we put into the market the more demand we are receiving.

“We are well advanced with our plan to double our production capacity over the next 18 months to satisfy customer demand.”

He said other articulated load haul dump vehicles used in Australia’s underground coal sector have had minimal changes of improvements over the past 10-15 years.

“With a Tier 3 electronically controlled engine and the onboard MONEx management system the Coaltram offers significant advantages for future vehicle tracking and uploading of operational critical data to be integrated automatically into the existing mine site management systems.”

Ensham sale

The order of three of the 10-tonne Coaltrams provides further confirmation that Ensham Resources is advancing its underground mining ambitions.

Ensham principal engineer of mining Graham Morris said the company selected the Coaltram CT10 because of its greater lift height, good visibility and engine emission controls.

He added it was best suited technically to the operating conditions expected in its new bord and pillar operation.

“We look forward to them coming into operation in the near future,” he said.

Ensham revised its government approved plans to introduce longwall and bord and pillar mining at its namesake open cut mine back in 2009.

The revisions to the Ensham Central Project removed the previously planned ramp up to 20 million tonnes per annum of product coal, with production expected to be maintained at 12Mtpa.

Two longwall panels were removed off the mine plan to the east of the area south of the Nogoa River, while additional short panels were added beneath a nearby floodplain which was previously destined for open cut mining.

The ECP joint venture approved the $A166 million bord and pillar mine 13 months ago, to transform the Ensham operations into a broader open cut and underground mining complex.

The JV consists of Bligh Coal (47.5%), Idemitsu (37.5%), J-Power (10%) and LG International (5%).