Published in March 2005 Australian Longwall Magazine

Each station on a mine’s conveyor can be fitted with the new BMA insert to show all system parameters, including line and battery charge, as well as pre-start monitoring.

The system is expected to maximise fault-finding and minimise system downtime.

“The BMA insert is totally retro-fittable to existing Austdac conveyor and longwall installations,” said Austdac national sales manager Rod Gilmour.

Austdac has also developed an additional keypad that can be connected to each station, effectively turning each BMA into a telephone line. Underground workers can then gain rapid access to a telephone line from multiple locations.

Gilmour said other system improvements include computerising of the BMA switch system, enabling a surface controller to communicate with any part of the mine at the touch of a computer mouse.

In related company news, Austdac has just supplied its first system outside Australia to the new Russian longwall mine Kyrgaiskaya. A BMA and dupline control system was supplied as part of a Baldwin & Francis package.