In the United States longwall mining accounts for more than half of all underground production—and Joy claims to account for 90 to 100% of the longwalls in operation at any given time. Excluding Eastern Europe and China where hard data on the numbers of operating longwalls are difficult to ascertain, over 80% of the shearers in operation around the world are Joy machines. More than half of these are the company’s current 7LS series.
“What is surprising,” Niederriter said, “is that with this dominance, Joy was not the first manufacturer of longwall shearers or complete longwall mining systems. In fact, Joy probably was close to being the most recent. As the most recent manufacturer, what Joy does produce is the world’s most reliable, most capable shearer, and that is what accounts for Joy’s enviable position in the world market today. Joy pioneered the multi-motor shearer in 1976 that has become the standard design configuration used by all major manufacturers.”
According to Coal Age magazine’s 2004 Longwall Census, there are 49 operating longwalls in the US, 92% of them with Joy shearers. Of the 45 longwalls mining with Joy shearers, 30 of them are from the 7LS series, 13 from the 4LS series and two from the 6LS series.
In Australia just a few years ago Joy accounted for only 25% of the longwall shearer market while the company’s market share is today approaching 50%.
“That remarkable surge to sharing market dominance principally comes from replacement of competitive units, as opposed to equipping new faces,” Niederriter said.
In South Africa too, Joy shearers operate at three of the country’s four operating longwalls, two 6LS series and one 4LS series. The 6LS operating on the Matla shortwall recently set a new record for monthly output, producing 722,586 tonnes during March.
“The 6LS series machines, designed for the higher seams, also has been very successful in Russia,” Niederriter noted, “and 7LS shearers hold both the Norwegian and European longwall production records.”
The United Kingdom operates 13 longwalls, seven of them with Joy shearers.
Obtaining comparative figures for China, the world’s largest coal producer, is a bit more complicated and somewhat difficult. “For example,” Niederriter said, “comparative productivity figures are elusive because, by law, all the coal possible must be mined regardless of the economics, and production is reported in raw tons mined rather than in the more customary ‘clean coal’.
“Still, of its 50 top producing mines, 42 of them cumulatively operate 90 longwalls and the highest producing of them operates a Joy 6LS series shearer,” Niederriter said.
“Presently there are but a dozen western-style longwalls in operation in China, and Joy is the leading supplier of armored face conveyors and shearers. Among that dozen or so longwalls, of the two shearers that produced more than one million tons in a single month, the Joy shearer slightly out-produced the other.”
The 7LS series of Joy shearers is described by Niederriter as a complete line of shearers.
“From the 7LS1A through to the 7LS6 shearer, Joy’s machines operate around the world in seams ranging from 1.5 meters through to 5.5m (4.9-18 ft),” he said.
The 7LS1A is designed for lower seams (1.5-3m/ 4.9-10 ft); the 7LS2A for medium seams (1.6-3.3m/5.2-11 ft), and the 7LS3A for higher seams (1.8-4m/5.9-13 ft). The 7LS5 and 6 are more powerful, heavier 100-ton machines designed for the highest seams. The 7LS5 has a working range of 2-4.5m (6.6-15 ft) and the 7LS6 is used in seams that range between 2.5-5.5m (8.2-18 ft).
The lighter 4LS and 6LS machines are primarily offered for the Polish and Russian markets, as well as other markets where lower cost is a greater consideration to the buyer than is maximum capabilities, Niederriter said. These machines are designed for seams ranging from 1.5-4m (4.9-13 ft) and 2.5-4.5m (8.2-15 ft), respectively.
In the next part of this article, Joy explains why its shearers dominate the market.
