Document Type
Conference Paper
Publication Date
2001
Abstract
Illawarra Coal BHP Minerals currently operate five underground coal mines in the Southern Coalfield of New South Wales in Australia. Each mine operates a retreating longwall extraction system as the primary production process. Economic reserves at several of the mines are nearing exhaustion and a feasibility study is under way to maintain production levels by development of a new mine. The level of maturity of the current operations and the nature of the remaining coal reserves in the Southern Coalfield present significant challenges for continued viable longwall mining. A general overview of the challenges and recent BHP experiences in relation to a number of more specific issues are presented in this paper.
Publication Details
This conference paper was originally published as Eade, P & Wood, J, Longwalling and Its Impact in the Southern Coalfield - Recent BHP Experiences, in Aziz, N (ed), Coal 2001: Coal Operators' Geotechnology Colloquium, University of Wollongong & the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2001, 85-92.