Published in September 2005 Australian Longwall Magazine

The Continental Conveyor-supplied HBR was designed to accommodate the extremely low transportation roof height at the mine.

While most conventional Australian longwall mines utilise 200m rolls of belting, Tahmoor uses 350m rolls of Apex-Fenner-supplied belting.

This results in substantial reductions in the use of mechanical clips in the total installation, thereby reducing belt maintenance.

With occupational health and safety one of the dominant design demands, the HBR was hydraulically automated to minimise the number of operators required during belt retraction.

The HBR is fitted with a loop take-up system with a massive 400m-storage capacity. The loop take-up is a tension-controlled system with Continental Conveyor's industry standard "Vector Winch" design control philosophy.

The 903 and 801 maingate jib transfer points had been designed with Tahmoor's longwall slabbing problems taken into consideration, said Continental Conveyor sales director Dave Goodwin.

“Surfboards”, as they are commonly referred to, must pass through the conveyor transfer system from the longwall crusher to the underground bin, preferably without blockage or damage to the belt system.

The transfer design is essentially a “hood and spoon” concept modified to improve product flow, dewatering, loading and spillage control.

Goodwin said Tahmoor’s engineers recognised the need for height at the transfer point if they were to effectively manage the maingate transfers.

“Unfortunately, this is not always the case, as many mines continue to try and compress transfers into unworkable heights, only to sacrifice overall transfer and system performance,” he added.

Continental Conveyor has installed much of the conveyor upgrade for the mine’s new northern section, including the 903 maingate, rated at 3500 tonnes per hour and powered by two 450kW VFDs.