In just under five years, the Walter Construction Group Mining Division has posted an annual turnover of $13.5 million, established an enviable client base in Queensland and New South Wales and opened offices across the country.
The mining business was brought in-house when Walters purchased 100% of United Australian Mining in 1999. Mining manager Peter Roberts is proud of the depth of operational and statutory experience his 150-strong workforce possesses. Roberts is a mining engineer with 17 years' experience in the coal industry and an undermanager's ticket.
The Mining Division has won contracts with Wyee, West Cliff, Clarence, Tower, South Bulli, Newlands, Kestrel, Kenmare, Oaky Creek, Crinum and North Goonyella in roadway development, longwall relocations, secondary support, inseam drilling, structural coring, shaft collar construction, dyke removal and shot-firing.
However, much of the work has been in longwall recoveries and Roberts is keen to add balance, particularly in roadway drivage and coal production. He believes some mines will eventually outsource their entire operations including longwall production, and his team is poised to take advantage of that trend.
"We are very much looking to capitalise on the direction that we see the industry is taking, that is, continued momentum towards outsourcing of people and skills," he said.
The Mining Division has established regional offices in Toronto and Emerald to ensure there are people on the ground to assist clients with day-to-day issues. Tenders are processed in the head office in Sydney, where the Walter Construction Group has the specialists needed to run major, multi-disciplined projects.
Roberts believes that in today's world of falling prices and the reduction in the number of mine employees, mining contractors offer companies efficiencies they may not be able to achieve in-house.
"We have the very latest technology to get better rates of installation. Because this is how we earn our living, we have a great attention to detail and a high focus on the costs," he said. "Our company has the largest fleet of road headers in the country that are used in very large civil tunnelling jobs through to specialised mining jobs.
"The thing about contracting is it's a bit like football - you're only as good as your last game, therefore our employees understand that their performance directly influences the longevity of their employment. We have to be successful in this job in order to win the next job."
Walters is using its specialist skills to recover a longwall face in the Bowen Basin that has been subjected to a series of major roof falls.
"We are using a specialised piece of equipment [which] is a road header in order to excavate in front of the longwall chocks in very small increments, allowing us to put up roof support far more efficiently," Roberts said.
"Because the roof has fallen and because of the conditions in place, it was deemed the conventional technique of a longwall boltup cycle wasn't going to be successful because of the size of the spans that you have to open up prior to the installation of support.
"The equipment and the technique we're using allow us to open up much smaller roof spans, thereby enabling us to put up roof supports far more quickly after coal has been extracted.
"The technique that we're adapting is aimed at putting adequate roof support up then advancing the longwall chocks to the point where we will be able to remove the longwall chocks in what is essentially a conventional manner, that is, we will have adequately supported the roof to enable the chocks to be brought out safely and efficiently."
