American Highwall Systems (AHS) was unveiled by sister company Longwall Associates to answer industry calls for greater flexibility in highwall equipment. AHS specialize in the design, manufacture and service of customized highwall mining systems and applications.
The new American Highwall Systems headquarters and manufacturing facility is based at the recently expanded Longwall Associates plant in Chilhowie Virginia.
AHS said its equipment allows operators to mine previously unrecoverable coal seams of various heights and on slopes of up to 30 degrees while achieving coal seam penetrations that are unsurpassed in the industry.
Three models of highwall mining systems are offered by the company to suit varied mining conditions and coal seam heights. The AHS1, the AHS2 and the AHS3 address low, medium and high seam mining conditions, respectively.
The three models are completely interchangeable into the miner mainframe module, eliminating the need for purchasing a completely new system when seam heights change. Using this methodology, AHS’ three models permit operators to completely eliminate constraints when changing mining seam heights from location to location.
AHS began its design by integrating mineral conveying expertise and field proven successes from the other areas of mining into the design and operation functions of highwall mining.
The parent company, Longwall Associates, has been manufacturing AFC and BSL systems for the longwall industry for over eight years and occupies over 20% of Original Equipment Armored Face Conveyor and Stage Loader market share in the USA. In addition, the majority of the shearer cutting drums used in the USA are designed and manufactured by C & A Cutter Head, a sister company of Longwall Associates.
“By applying technology traditionally used in underground mining along with our field-proven technology and expertise in conveying, we developed attributes for our highwall equipment no one else offers,” said CEO Tony Campbell.
“Our new AHS equipment is designed to increase productivity, improve and extend equipment life, flexibility and versatility.”
AHS equipment is already being actively marketed into the U.S. market.
