On April 30, Inbye Mining Services will publicly launch the longwall system at an invitation-only open day, with key managers and engineers from Australia’s underground coal industry set to attend.

Vale’s Carborough Downs longwall in Queensland, which will be ramped up later this year, is being supplied by Inbye as the main and controlling contractor, while several overseas and Australian manufacturers are supplying the equipment under Inbye.

Among the longwall equipment are two leg shields, rated at 1238t, from Poland's Tagor SA, while the electro-hydraulic control system is provided by Tiefenbach Control Systems of Germany.

The Eickhoff SL1000 series shearer will be the first to be installed in Australia. The shearer has total power of 2190kW, with two 900kW cutting motors and top-mounted hydraulic arms.

“The open day will provide the industry with an opportunity to see the first real alternative set of equipment that has been in Australia for the past few decades. It’s a new brand and a new badge and has some new features that we think will be interesting to existing longwall users,” Inbye Queensland general manager Shane Summers told ILN earlier this month.

“We have the opportunity to show people something in the flesh that is representative of the product we can offer them.”