New machinery for Appin Area 9 project

Unanderra company, Nepean Conveyors has unveiled a mighty piece of mining machinery set to be used at Illawarra Coal’s Appin Area 9 project, according to the Illawarra Mercury. The firm has showcased a 10 m tall “North Mains Two Splitter” which, at 37 t and AU$ 2 million, will make a hefty addition to Illawarra Coal’s New South Wales (NSW) coal mine.

The splitter will be dismantled and reassembled below ground in early 2015, where it will be used to take coal from one conveyor before splitting it onto two outgoing systems. The splitter took around 12 months to build, following multiple years of R&D.

The equipment is part of a AU$ 37 million contract between Illawarra Coal (a subsidiary of BHP Billiton) and Nepean Conveyors.

David Oliver, head of project at Illawarra Coal, said the contract between the two firms has helped “support local manufacturing” in NSW. "I think it's just a good example of mining investment continuing to support local manufacturing and [...] it's still continuing here in the Illawarra," he explained.

The Appin Area 9 project, first announced in mid 2012, lies adjacent to Illawarra Coal’s existing Appin operations and is set to open in 2016 – the same year reserves at the company’s West Cliff mine expire.

The new piece of mining equipment will improve productivity at the Appin Area 9 project, according to Illawarra Coal president, Troy McDonald, by adding the flexibility to direct coal through to either the West Cliff or Appin Mine surfaces. "The new equipment will assist in facilitating the continued reliable supply of high quality metallurgical coal – an important raw material used in steel making - to domestic and overseas customers," he said. "This is the first time a structure of this height and width has been commissioned in a NSW underground coal mine."

Edited from various sources by Sam Dodson.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/handling/11082014/new-conveyor-splitter-unveiled-by-nepean-conveyors-coal1186/