The Blakefield South mine will replace the highly productive Beltana longwall which will cease operations in 2009-10. The mine will commence at the site of the old South Bulga mine.

Unlike Beltana, the $A350 million Blakefield South mine will be accessed via two drifts. One for men and materials, the other a conveyor drift.

Walter won the first drift construction, including a surface conveyor installation contract, and will be working towards a January 2007 start-up. Walter will initially send 30 employees to the project and an AM105 Voest Alpine roadheader along with a fleet including LHDs and a shotcreting machine.

One element of Walter’s success in winning the Blakefield contract was the design, engineering and manufacture of a temporary roof support (TRS) on its roadheader.

Walter business development general manager Peter Roberts said Walter committed many months before winning the contract to designing hydraulic drill rigs incorporating a TRS system in an effort to protect the roof bolting operators. Hydramatic Engineering was commissioned to work with Walter’s engineering division to undertake the project.

“In striving to always be at the forefront of safety in our industry we sought to improve the way roof bolting was undertaken whilst using roadheaders.”