The workshops will also cover the geotechnical considerations relating to tendons, development in tendon hardware and the installation practices at mines.

Participants will be able to discuss the opportunities and challenges involved in roadway development and recommend ways of improving performance.

Presenting at the conference will be Austar Coal’s Adrian Moodie, who will discuss the application of the long tendon which has been a critical aspect in the safety of the Austar coal mine.

Austar has long been associated with difficult mining conditions created by the large depth of cover and the high horizontal stress regime.

The application and continued refinement of long tendon support has been critical to enabling Austar to safely develop and retreat in this environment where relatively low immediate strata strengths create zones of guttering, roof failure and general instability.

Moodie’s presentation will review some of the recent practises and advances at Austar in terms of long tendon support both in development and for longwall retreat.

Additionally the presentation will look at the use of long tendons for rib support around the colliery.

His presentation will also discuss some of the mine’s current thoughts on the application of different long tendon support systems.

This will include the auditing systems used to assess their appropriateness and aid in the mine’s hazard management.

A review of the geotechnical challenges facing Australian longwall mines will be a key focus point in an address by Anglo American’s Richard Campbell.

Campbell will argue that poorer conditions and the ongoing battle between development rates and the longwall demonstrates the need to install longwall support.

Expanding on the geotechnical side of long tendons will be Mine Advice’s Russell Frith.

Frith will examine the geotechnical issues associated with installing long tendons in development, including roof instability mechanisms and tendon patterns in relation to continuous miner designs.

Also presenting will be Centennial Coal’s Peter Corbett, Tahmoor’s Phil Howes, and Minova’s Robert Hawker and Tom Meikle.

The workshop will be held at Moranbah in Queensland on October 11, the Hunter Valley on October 18 and Penrith in Western New South Wales on October 19.

For workshop enquiries contact Gary Gibson at gary@yarrowlumla.com.au.