Machine mining advocated

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34130, 17 April 1976, Page 22

Machine mining advocated

(N.Z. Press Association)

HAMILTON

New Zealand has little choice but to invest heavily in mechanised mining equipment if its coal production is to keep pace with demand according to an Australian expert.

He is Mr C. H. Martin, president of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and general

superintendent of coalmining for the Broken Hill Proprietary. | Although initial cost was high, mechanised mining! was more economic long-! term because of reduced! labour costs, he said at I Huntly. Labour accounted for about 60 per cent of the' total cost in traditional min-1 ing, he said. The maximum! 'productivity was about three[ .tonnes per man per shift. > [ Mechanical methods could] raise this to about 12 tones! (per man-shift, and coal! 'would cost about $lO a! tonne to extract, including] the capital cost of equip-] ment. Conventional methods; would cost up to 2j times! as much. Mr Martin visited the) Mines Department Rotowaro] No. 5 project, and said that! the type of machine used could not be worked in steep drives. “Certain roof conditions have made mechancial mining unsuitable in the past,” he said. “But now with mechanical supports instead of props, and other developments, there is generality a machine available for every type of mining — both underground and open-cast. “And it would be afe to say that the frequency and I severity of accidents — especially at the face — have dropped dramatically with the use of mechanised methods.” New Zealand was just entering the era of modern coal mining, and could take advantage of developments in machinery and up-to-date techniques, he said.