Earlier, New South Wales-based Longwall Haul had formed an alliance with Colrok for the contractor to extend its offerings into Queensland.

Longwall Haul currently has several roadway development jobs on the books in New South Wales. These include improving 1.5km of roadway at BHP’s Elouera mine, 2km at Newstan, and 2km at Chain Valley. The company also has a proposal in to improve roadways at the Southlands mine where Colrok was recently contractor. The outcome of this contract will be decided by the contractor mine owner Gympie appoints to manage the Southland colliery in Colrok’s place.

Longwall Haul uses its proprietary QDS road leveler, designed by managing director Neil Cann, for the bulk of its roadway improvement work. Cann said the company used all its own equipment and owned 15 of the custom-made levelers. The company also has the rights to use Ecoflex for roadway stabilisation, a technology that uses recycled tyres as an alternative to sub-base replacements. A single layer of Ecoflex is capable of supporting a 70-tonne axle load.

About to be trialed at the BHP Appin mine is 2000 litre tank for liquid stone-dust application, Cann said.

Longwall Haul is also acting as an agent for Supasorb, a product that absorbs underground water and slurry, allowing it to be bucketed out in a manageable form. Supasorb, a product of Reynolds Soil Technologies, has been successfully applied in mines such as Elouera and Ulan.

“Using the myne dozer and trenching attachment we are controlling in-mine water from ribs and floor,” Cann said.