TY - THES

T1 - Productivity Improvements Provided By Continuous Haulage in Long Wall Gate Road Development

AU - Hunt, Ryan

N1 - embargoed until null

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - The overall objectives of this project are to: •Provide a study on the potential for productivity improvements in gateroad developments which are mostly utilising batch haulage systems today; •Investigate how such improvements have not been realised thus far; •Explore how these productivity improvements could be realised with the introduction of a fit for purpose designed Continuous Haulage System (CHS). To achieve these objectives it was recognised that the project should: •Identify and evaluate the current haulage systems employed in the mining Industry today; •Investigate the mining cycle in order to identify effectively the bottlenecks in the process and further the interactions/relationship current haulage systems have with these bottlenecks; •Conclude by identifying paths towards the development of a coal clearance system. Key Findings Batch Haulage systems are a major constraint in Gateroad development due not only to their ‘batch’ characteristics (productive time vs. non-productive time whilst travelling), but also to the barriers they impose on other equipment in the process. The Joy 4FCT was also evaluated and results concluded that the technology is unsuitable for ‘high advance rate’ mining due to its physical dimensions and complexity impacting on other process tasks and the time it takes to install, maintain and relocate the system. Recommendations Academic recommendations were made for the design and development of a continuous haulage system, which enables process and system integration whilst maintaining an operating capacity of 10 m per operating hour.

AB - The overall objectives of this project are to: •Provide a study on the potential for productivity improvements in gateroad developments which are mostly utilising batch haulage systems today; •Investigate how such improvements have not been realised thus far; •Explore how these productivity improvements could be realised with the introduction of a fit for purpose designed Continuous Haulage System (CHS). To achieve these objectives it was recognised that the project should: •Identify and evaluate the current haulage systems employed in the mining Industry today; •Investigate the mining cycle in order to identify effectively the bottlenecks in the process and further the interactions/relationship current haulage systems have with these bottlenecks; •Conclude by identifying paths towards the development of a coal clearance system. Key Findings Batch Haulage systems are a major constraint in Gateroad development due not only to their ‘batch’ characteristics (productive time vs. non-productive time whilst travelling), but also to the barriers they impose on other equipment in the process. The Joy 4FCT was also evaluated and results concluded that the technology is unsuitable for ‘high advance rate’ mining due to its physical dimensions and complexity impacting on other process tasks and the time it takes to install, maintain and relocate the system. Recommendations Academic recommendations were made for the design and development of a continuous haulage system, which enables process and system integration whilst maintaining an operating capacity of 10 m per operating hour.

M3 - Master's Thesis (University Course)

ER -