The Crinum mine is located in the Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia, and is operated by the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance. The operation comprises the Gregory open cut operation and the Crinum underground mine.
The Crinum underground longwall mine is between 80m and 220m below the ground and was commissioned in 1997. The mine is capable of producing 4.3 million tons of coking coal annually. The majority of mineable coal reserves are contained in the Lilyvale seam, which averages 3.5m in thickness.
The challenge
The mine wanted to install a tracking system that could monitor and control the movement of personnel and machines in to the longwall panels. Access to these areas needs to be controlled for two reasons. Firstly, each longwall panel has a limited number of self-contained self rescuers (SCSRs), which restricts the safe number of personnel permitted in the area.
Secondly, the limited ventilation in an underground mine governs how many diesels (diesel particulate) are allowed. The mine also wanted to be able to better manage the movement of personnel, machines, implements and stores during the longwall moves.
The solution
After considering various solutions, the mine chose Mine Site Technologies ImPact Tracking solution. The system comprises 12 strategically placed wireless access points (WAPs) connected via the dedicated composite fibre and power cable, 140 vehicle tags and 140 integrated communications cap lamp (ICCL) tags combined with AeroScout's MobilView software.
The mine has a number of existing ICCLs and has been using the PED and BeltPED for several years. They have four PED transmission systems currently on site. Given the unique ability to integrate the active RFID tags in to the mine's existing number of ICCL units, minimising the system cost was a big incentive for the mine to choose the ImPact Tracking solution.
The other main factor was the flexibility and ease of use of the tracking software. Client specific customisation, little need for IT intervention and web browser capabilities were all major factors in the mines choice of MST's solution.
The future
The initial installation will rolled out in to non-hazardous areas and will be extended in to the intrinsically safe (IS) sections of the mine within 12 months. Additionally, as soon as the intrinsic safe approval of MST's VoIP telephone is completed, it can provide an option for two-way, mobile communications underground.
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