After the fire broke out at Anglo Coal’s Goedehoop Colliery mine some months ago, mine management was advised the only way to bring the fire under control quickly was through inertisation. As there was no inertisation equipment readily available in South Africa, GSIS was approached by Goedehoop management to put out the fire. This followed unsuccessful attempts to inject nitrogen into the mine.

A 10-man GSIS crew flew to South Africa, with a Steamexfire inertisation unit from Liberty Gasturbine Holland used to inertise the mine in eight days.

The Steamexfire technique displaces oxygen in the mine with inert gas and is fuelled by jet fuel.

The Steamexfire produces a mixture of combustion (carbon dioxide) products with water vapour with minimum (2%) oxygen content at a temperature of 80-100C. Oxygen content is reduced to the point at which it will not support combustion and the fire suppressed when the oxygen and heat are removed.

This was the first time the Steamexfire has been used in an actual emergency, with the company saying the exercise had been very successful.

A key factor in the success of the operation was GSIS being able to deploy its inertisation unit and crew within three days. GSIS said the success of the operation had led to requests and contacts from all over the world.

“A complete Steamexfire system and crew is on standby and turnkey for inertisation worldwide,” the company said.

GSIS is a new company combining Australian and Dutch expertise in mine ventilation and gas turbine engines. The company is a joint venture of Liberty Gasturbine Holland, which specialises in jet engines and control systems; All Metal Solutions, a Mackay-based company that has the hardware required for combustion; and the individual Marek Romanski, who has ventilation and mining expertise.