The most recent achievement of the Landmark longwall automation project has been to prove a military-grade inertial navigation system (INS) capable of measuring the three-dimensional position of an operating shearer over the length of a production block. (This is the subject of an article in the March edition of Australia’s Longwalls, due out on March 16.)

People interested in finding out more about this and other latest developments in the ACARP sponsored project would find the workshop useful.

The workshop will provide mines with the opportunity to find out about the rollout later this year of commercial products that have been developed as part of the automation project. Mines interested in considering automation can become familiar with the operation of proposed automation systems and to have input into the design of areas such as user interfaces.

Topics to be covered include automatic face alignment, plus a demonstration of Beltana’s system; condition monitoring; automatic horizon control; and haulage automation/training.

The workshop will be presented by key research providers CSIRO and the Cooperative Research Centre Mining. It precedes the AJM 7th Longwall Mining Summit at Rydges Capricorn resort in Yeppoon, but is not connected with the conference.

There is no cost to attend the workshop but organisers stress attendees need to register ahead of time, by March 19 at the latest.

A registration brochure is available at www.longwallautomation.org or contract Kellie Muffatti on 07 3327 4400.