Longwall Haul, formed in 1998, specialises in Myne Dozer hire and roadworks construction. On the equipment side, Longwall Haul’s main trump card is the QDS road leveller which can be attached to an Eimco or Wagner load-haul-dump unit. The road leveller was designed by managing director Neil Cann. Some 20 levellers have been built in the past two years and have either been sold into longwall mines such as Southland and Newstan, or are on continuous hire at mines including New Wallsend and Elouera.

Some 18 months ago, Longwall Haul’s focus began to change with the start of an association with Ecoflex Australia and Reynolds Soil Technologies. The former had spent five years and about $1 million developing the technology to use recycled tyres in a wide range of applications. The high strength, load distribution and free draining characteristics made this technology particularly attractive for application in longwall mines as an alternative to sub-base replacements, where poor roadway conditions often impact negatively on production.

Reynolds Soil’s services included site management and product development for road management. Originally involved with open-cut metalliferous mines in Western Australia, the company has started to bring its technologies into underground coal through Longwall Haul. Chemical products have been developed for dust suppression, water treatment and stabilising roads, including liquid stone dust, “total ground control” and Supasorb, a product which aids in ‘swillie’ control and water saturation in underground mines.

“We recognised the value of Ecoflex and Reynolds and we sought marketing licences exclusively for the mining industry,” said Longwall Haul manager, Bob Owens. “We felt that a lot of companies in the past had tried to put a total roadway package together and had failed. This is the first time a company has been able to offer everything.”

Since then an alliance has been formed between Longwall Haul, Ecoflex and Reynolds Soil. And in recent months the alliance has been further strengthened with the involvement of contracting group Colrok in Queensland which can provide labour where required.

Not unexpectedly, it has not been easy introducing new technologies and approaches into the longwall industry, but all three companies say that today they have runs on the board. Owens attributes a certain amount of initial scepticism to the failures of other ventures in the past that attempted to provide a whole package.

“Our philosophy is to give the facts straight, back up with documentation, and support what we do,” Owens said.

Ecoflex has been installed at Newlands, Kenmare, Wyee, Elouera and Southlands. Owens said a single layer of Ecoflex supported a 70-tonne axle load and was free﷓draining. He said it could also be used to build underground dams and drivehead slabs. Building an underground drivehead slab was two-thirds cheaper than using concrete and the structure was immediately ready for use without the need for curing.

Managing director of Ecoflex, Gary Callinan, said one of the main advantages of the product was that it maintained integrity under water. “For me, what is important, is that with this product miners can win more coal through increased productivity,” he said. “And it can save up to 25% over comparable methods.”

Reynolds products have been sold through Longwall Haul into mines such as Southland, West Wallsend and Newlands. Director of Reynolds, Peter Parkinson, said the company’s products were “the tools in an overall system”

“I feel that through our technology and alliance we can identify problems, provide recommendations for their solution or resolve the problems ourselves. It’s to do with safety, morale and production issues,” he said.

Longwall Haul is in the process of completing the removal of 4.5km of loco-rail at Southland. Mine production superintendent, Chris Pallas, said the contractor had been providing road maintenance services for four months.

* This article originally appeared in the September 2000 edition of Australia's Longwalls.