Henry Walker Eltin (HWE) has won the contract to carry out 9km of underground mains development at the Moranbah North mine of Shell Coal in central Queensland. On-site mobilisation began on January 17, 2000.
The work is expected to take 4-6 months and will include construction of ventilation structures. Place changing has been chosen as the preferred development method. Equipment includes the Eimco Dash 3 continuous miner and Joy SC32 shuttle cars. The AC-drive Joy shuttle cars, the first to be sold in Australia, offer a complete upgrade on the previous model. The wheel units, traction and conveyor motors and hydraulics have all been upgraded. The vehicle had one set of controls which offered more reliability, Joy said. It also features a side saddle as opposed to two seats. In addition, all components are said to be heavier duty than other models.
The underground coal mining contract heralds the entry of HWE - proven operators in hard rock mines and present in the opencut coal mining market - into the highly competitive underground coal sector.
