Movements of personnel and materials in Australian underground coal mines

Authors

Chris Harvey, University of WollongongFollow
David Walker, BMA Technical Services
Ernest Baafi, University of WollongongFollow
Ian Porter, University of WollongongFollow
Senevi Kiridena, University of WollongongFollow

Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2023

Publication Details

Chris Harvey, David Walker, Ernest Baafi, Ian Porter and Senevi Kiridena, Movements of personnel and materials in Australian underground coal mines, Proceedings of the 2023 Resource Operators Conference, University of Wollongong - Mining Engineering, February 2023, 91-99.

Abstract

With the desire to optimise the development of roadways in underground coal mines as operations expand, it logically followed that any increase in the development rate will require more efficient logistics management, especially the timely supply of roof support materials (bolts, chemicals and mesh) to each active face area. Logistics management in general was not considered as a key issue when initial or long-term planning of an underground coal mine is undertaken. It is traditionally assumed that whatever production targets are set that logistics can keep up or that it is retrospectively managed after an identifiable bottleneck.