CM2010 IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

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CM2010 IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
ACARP
Australian Coal Association Research Program

• Greg Pawley (Xstrata Coal), Bob Miller
  (Centennial Coal) and John Coughlan (Kestrel)
• Roadway Development Task Group
• August 2008

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ROADWAY DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE

• Significant improvements in longwall production
  and productivity are continuing to be made, with
  production doubling every 10 years or thereabouts
• Improvements in roadway development are generally
  failing to keep abreast of longwall improvements
• Higher capacity, new generation mines are being
  planned 15 Mtpa
• Older mines are struggling to survive and it is
  becoming more difficult to find solutions and
  successfully apply them
• Unlikely that continuing increases in longwall
  production will be sustainable if current roadway
  development practices and trends remain unchanged
• Longwall sustainability!

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ROADWAY DEVELOPMENT TASK GROUP

• Previous attempts at one off Company
  initiatives largely failed
• poor problem scope, planning and organisation
• lack of mine involvement and commitment
• loss of project champions
• poor execution and patience
• lack of critical mass to gain OEM support
• ACARP considered it an industry wide problem
  requiring an industry wide approach to fund and
  resource the necessary improvements
• RDTG formed in 2005 to develop and direct a
  roadmap for targeted RD to improve roadway
  development
• Initial members included Anglo Coal, BHP
  Billiton, BMA Coal, Centennial Coal, Rio Tinto
  Coal, Thiess, and Xstrata Coal, with Austar Coal,
  Vale and Peabody subsequently joining the RDTG

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2005 ROADWAY DEVELOPMENT REVIEW

• The Review was commissioned by ACARP under
  direction of RDTG to
• Identify where past wins had been achieved and
  what lessons had been learnt
• Identify incremental and step changes in roadway
  development technology and systems necessary to
• Enable new generation, high capacity longwall
  mines to be developed
• Provide productivity gains to enable existing
  mines to compete with the new generation mines.
• Identify specific RD opportunities for new
  technologies, equipment and associated systems
• Build support and commitment for a targeted 7
  year RD program

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RDTG (ACARP) INITIATIVES

• Subsequent to the 2005 Review ACARP has supported
  a number of initiatives, including
• Undertaking benchmarking studies to identify
  performance trends, and identify factors
  differentiating performance levels across mines
• Staging regular (6 monthly) roadway development
  operators workshops to
• communicate emerging best practice and learn from
  roadway development improvement initiatives
• learn of developments in equipment and
  technology, and
• identify potential areas for targeted research
• Conducting a review of the civil tunnelling and
  underground metalliferous sectors to identify
  technologies and practices that could potentially
  be applied to improve roadway development
  performance

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RDTG (ACARP) INITIATIVES

• Continuing the development of self drilling bolts
  (SDB)
• Developing a polymer based alternative skin
  reinforcement and confinement system to eliminate
  the installation of steel mesh and, with SDB,
  allow operators to be removed from the immediate
  face
• Developing an automated system for installing SDB
  and mesh, including an integrated logistics and
  materials handling system from the supplier to
  the face
• Developing a simulation model to
• enable limitations of current development
  processes to be understood
• evaluate potential roadway development
  technologies and practices prior to committing
  scarce capital and resources
• Developing a handbook to capture the industrys
  current body of knowledge of roadway
  development practice for future generations

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CM2010 RD STRATEGY

• In late 2007 the RDTG took the initiative to
  develop an integrated RD strategy aimed at
  developing a new generation high capacity roadway
  development system
• The intention of this strategy is to provide a
  framework linking all roadway development related
  RD to a common purpose, and to develop a basis
  for undertaking cooperative RD between
  researchers, OEMs, and mine sites

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• An integrated, remotely supervised high capacity
  roadway development mining system that enables 15
  Mtpa longwall mines to be established and
  sustained with a single mining unit
• The system will also enable mining to be safely
  undertaken under adverse or extreme mining
  conditions, thus opening up access to reserves
  previously considered unminable

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• A sustained performance rate of 10 metres per
  operating hour (MPOH) for 20 hours per day, based
  on installing primary support of 6 roof and 2 rib
  bolts per metre advance together with roof and
  rib confinement measures (mesh)
• Improved health and safety through reduced
  exposure to hazards in the immediate face area

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• By end 2010, demonstrate key enabling component
  technologies that will form the basis of an
  integrated high capacity mining system
• By end 2010, establish programs that enable the
  key organisational and technical competencies
  required to support a high capacity mining system
  to be developed throughout the industry
• By end 2012, demonstrate an integrated, remotely
  supervised high capacity roadway development
  system
• Progressively reduce the physical demands on
  personnel engaged in the development process and
  reduce their exposure to workplace hazards

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KEY ELEMENTS - CM2010 RD STRATEGY

• Key enabling technologies underpinned by
  organisational and technical competencies
• Project management of RD and engagement of the
  corporate sector is essential to bring the CM2010
  RD strategy to fruition

Key enabling technologies
Organisational and technical competencies
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• Key Enabling Technologies
• Develop self-steering technologies and systems
  that enables mining equipment to
• mine roadways in accordance with predetermined
  survey controls
• maintain both azimuth, horizon and grade control
  within a variable seam horizon, and
• totally automate the cutting and loading cycle
  (including mining breakaways) thus enabling
  equipment to be remotely supervised
• Requires a combination of fundamental and applied
  research building upon Highwall Mining and
  Longwall Automation technologies
• CSIRO Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies
  has demonstrated capabilities

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• Key Enabling Technologies
• Develop systems that enables the automated
  installation of conventional resin anchored
  bolts, self drilling bolts, and roof and rib
  mesh, and to feed bolts and mesh to the
  installation hardware without direct operator
  involvement
• Will require a combination of fundamental and
  applied research
• Joy have prototype carousel bolter and Sandvik
  have operational carousel bolters (metaliferous
  sector) that could provide basic equipment
  platform, whilst CSIRO has developed a range of
  technologies for the ACBM that could potentially
  be applied
• UOW recently awarded ACARP funding to pursue this
  initiative

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• Key Enabling Technologies
• Develop alternative skin reinforcement and
  confinement technologies and systems that
  eliminates the installation of roof and rib mesh
  and provides an enhanced roof and skin
  reinforcement medium
• Will require a combination of fundamental and
  applied research
• UOW awarded ACARP funding to pursue this
  initiative in 2007
• Initial research shows considerable promise

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• Key Enabling Technologies
• Demonstrate, adapt and refine continuous haulage
  technologies and systems currently being used
  overseas for use in Australian longwall mines
• Two continuous haulage systems currently being
  operated or commissioned in Australian mines,
  with a third system expected to be ordered 3Q
  2008
• Expected to be largely driven by mine sites, with
  support from and feedback to RDTG
• Will predominantly require operational
  improvement to apply existing technologies with
  some applied research required to integrate into
  a remotely supervised, high capacity mining
  system

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• Key Enabling Technologies
• Develop technologies and systems that enables
  face services to be extended within the 3 minute
  cut, load support cycle and without direct
  operator involvement
• One monorail system currently being reinstalled
  at Mandalong with recent orders placed for 3 new
  monorail systems
• Expected to be largely driven by mine sites, with
  support from and feedback to RDTG
• Will predominantly require operational
  improvement to apply existing technologies with
  some applied research required to automate
  installation of monorails

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• Key Enabling Technologies
• Develop technologies and systems that enables
  panel services to be advanced on a continuous
  basis in parallel with mining operations or
  alternatively, within scheduled maintenance
  windows
• Expected to be largely driven by mine sites, with
  support from and feedback to RDTG
• May require some applied research to develop
  extensible conveyors and integrate major services
  (H/T power reticulation, transformers, etc) into
  a services management system
• May also require some applied research to develop
  more efficient mine compliant services (eg
  pipework)

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Each of

• The roadway development system is built on a
  number of independent subsystems that remain
  largely unchanged since their inception some 40
  years ago
• With few exceptions, new technologies have been
  adapted to existing machine designs rather than
  result in any fundamental review of machine
  design
• The integration of emerging enabling technologies
  into an integrated, remotely supervised high
  capacity mining system is expected to pose a
  significant challenge to researchers and OEMs
• Adoption of an industry standard communications
  protocol will be a prerequisite to system
  integration (as in Longwall automation)
• Applied research and design simulation will be
  necessary to integrate the emerging technologies
  and subsystems, similar to that achieved with
  TBMs in the tunnelling sector
• UOW and CSIRO are developing a collaborative
  framework to enable their core expertise to be
  applied to the task, together with participating
  OEMs and other key researchers

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FUNDING - CM2010

• The level of funding required to successfully
  develop and demonstrate all elements of the
  strategy over the next 3 -5 years is expected to
  be of the order of 31M, comprising some
• 8.5M for fundamental, ACARP funded research
• 22.5M for capital purchases and operational
  expenditure associated with the purchase of
  equipment and conduct of new technology trials
  and demonstrations at mines, funded directly by
  mines
• The RDTG proposes that the fundamental research
  component be funded by ACARP outside routine
  funding processes, similar to that adopted for
  the Longwall Automation Project (5M)
• The RDTG also proposes that a collaborative
  research mechanism be established to prioritise,
  facilitate, and coordinate the CM2010 Project

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FUNDING - CM2010
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WHY COLLABORATE?

• CM2010 is a multi-faceted project beyond the
  capacity of any individual mining company
• Collaboration will enable cost (), risk and
  technical resources to be shared
• Collaboration will enable underground mine
  operators to achieve the necessary step change by
  improving the capability of the overall system
• OEMs focus on global, low technology products
  while the Australian industry is pursuing higher
  technology solutions to the roadway development
  challenge
• A fragmented Australian market wont develop the
  critical mass necessary to leverage global OEMs
  to pursue local solutions

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COLLABORATION STRATEGY

• Discrete enabling technologies are separately
  progressed prior to consolidating research gains
  into an integrated system
• Individual companies champion discrete
  technologies that best fit their strategic
  objectives, directly funding the associated
  research and communicating research findings to
  member companies , eg
• Company A - remotely operated CM
• Company B - automated self drilling bolts and
  mesh installation
• Companies C D (jointly) - continuous haulage
• Company E - integrated panel services and panel
  advances
• ACARP landmark funding is utilised to progress
  fundamental research where required, with in kind
  support and operational funding from the
  responsible technology champion company
• RDTG determines how research gains can be
  consolidated into an integrated high capacity
  system , and facilitates industry uptake

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KEY PRINCIPLES

• Participating companies each agree to share the
  results of any CM2010 related research and/or
  trials they conduct, and to host site
  demonstrations for co-collaborators
• Collaboration involves the sharing of results,
  not the sharing of any Intellectual Property that
  is developed such IP remains with the developer
  although they may license co-collaborators
• Progress reporting and monitoring to be
  coordinated by the Roadway Development Task Group
  

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WHERE TO FROM HERE

• The ACARP Research Committee has confirmed its
  support for the CM2010 Project and has
  recommended that ACARP support the Project as
  proposed
• The ACARP Board will review the Research
  Committee s recommendation at its September 2008
  meeting
• Subject to the Boards approval, the Project will
  kick off in October 2008 with a series of scoping
  workshops to define the research objectives,
  outcomes, and work programs for the key
  fundamental research elements
• Expect that Technical Working Group will be
  established with direct input from mines to
  provide technical support and direction
• ARE YOU INTERESTED IN GETTING INVOLVED?