CSIRO’s adaptation of a military-grade internal guidance system for use in the control of underground longwall coal mining equipment is an important advance in the industry’s drive to remove people from working faces and increase production rates.

Previously, miners had to stop operations twice a day to realign the longwall shearer using string lines. Automating the process cuts downtime and improves productivity by thousands of tonnes a day.

With coal worth $100 a tonne, this is a major development for the mining industry. It also helps remove miners from hazardous and dusty areas.

The CSIRO project has now been recognised by the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) with the ACARP Award for Research Excellence.

The awards are made every two years to research teams that address a significant coal industry problem. In presenting the award, ACARP noted “the [CSIRO] team succeeded in automating the fly cut, remotely monitoring the cutting sequence and advancing the maintenance practices on the wall. It is now possible to sit in the mine office on the surface and watch the cutting and associated operating parameters in real-time as a direct consequence of this research project.

“The research team has invested technical excellence, persistence and sheer hard work to overcome the many obstacles before them,” ACARP said.

According to CSIRO, its innovations continue, with a number of its advances currently being commercialised. Its team is also working to pick up marker bands in the coal seam that will enable them to continue to advance the automation of a longwall

through automated horizon control.

The CSIRO team is based at Brisbane's Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies and includes CSIRO mining manager Mick Kelly, David Hainsworth and David Reid.

“The award is recognition for the entire project team and I'm proud to be part of the team working towards the world's first automated longwall,” Kelly said.