Mechanised coal mining

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34132, 20 April 1976, Page 16

Mechanised coal mining

In 19/3 it cost $8.39 to produce a ton of coal from the underground mines of the Waikato coalfield; producing a ton of coal from the underground mines on the West Coast cost between $12.56 and $14.97. Mining conditions are easier in the Waikato but the main reason why coal was mined more cheaply there was the more extensive use of mechanical equipment Waikato mines. When a major mine in the Waikato was almost fully mechanised in 1972 production costs fell, productivity rose and miners enjoyed better and safer working conditions in comparison with similar mines worked by traditional pick-and-shovel methods. Such evidence prompted the authors of the 1974 White Paper on the Coal Industry of New Zealand to urge further mechanisation of underground mines in New Zealand. The Australian mining expert w*ho recommended recently that New Zealand invest heavily in mechanised mining equipment was preaching to the converted, but his reminder was still opportune. New Zealand seems to have such copious resources of coal that it would be foolish not to exploit them to supply a greater proportion of the country’s total requirements of energy. But whatever the benefits to the nation as a whole of reducing the need to import expensive oil, individuals deciding which fuel to use for their particular purposes will find coal attractive only if it is competitive in price with alternative fuels: and coal will be competitive in price only if advantage is taken of advances in coal-mining technology. Underground mines in New Zealand have not been mechanised in the past because it was thought that, with the market for coal steadily declining, it was less important to keep coal competitive in price with other fuels than to cushion the blow to those who depended on the declining industry for their livelihood. Measures to reduce the number of miners, particularly on the West Coast have been so successful that the work-force in mining may now be barely sufficient to take full advantage of mechanisation. The need is now not to protect miners’ jobs but to hold, or reduce if possible, the cost of mining coal. More than half of New Zealand’s coal is now produced from open-cast mines where mechanisation is easier and less expensive, but not all of the country’s reserves of coal can be recovered by opencast methods. The heavy investment needed to mechanise the larger underground mines, where conditions permit the use of mechanical equipment, should be regarded by the Government as a cost which must be met if the country is to secure the best possible advantage from one of its few major mineral resources.