The shearer and auger cutting drums supplier received the order from Southland earlier this year and delivered the drums to the mine in early September.

The shearer drums manufactured for Southland were the same ones displayed by Longwall Associates Australia at Sydney’s AIMEX 2003 show.

After the AIMEX exhibition, Southland Colliery took ownership of the drums and has commissioned them successfully.

The shearer drums were built to meet specifications including 4 start 2 bit per line lacing, vanes and dished face rings were certified A-36 Steel, 76.2 mm thick and the drum barrel was certified A-36 steel, 31.75 mm thick.

The mounting hub was machine from T-1 steel and the drums incorporated a wear package protected by approximately 20 mm AR plate topped with a special wear resistant material plate.

Cutting diameter was 2,100 mm with the effective cutting web at 800 mm and the drum had C&A Cutter Head #CA-0100 blocks and #SLH-0100 sleeves.

“We have been strategically working on entering the Australian market for some time now. We anticipate once the mines see how effective, innovative and user-friendly our drums are, we will rapidly expand our customer base there,” said C&A Cutter Head vice president Clyde Hutzell.

C&A Cutter Head is a sister company to Longwall Associates, both based in Virginia, and a subsequent sister company to Longwall Associates Australia.

“We are thrilled to offer C&A Cutter Head shearer cutting drums as part of our comprehensive product line up,” said Longwall Associates Australia managing director Peter van Iersel.

“We have seen how successful these shearer drums are in the US, as the company has almost half the market share. We think the Australian market will respond favourably to their product innovations available, as well.”