Gainwell Engineering has delivered its first shield hauler, a 60 t class SH660 G, to metcoal mining customer Kestrel Coal in Australia. Gainwell’s Australian manufacturing hub, Gainwell Engineering Pacific Pty Ltd is in Gateshead, a suburb of Newcastle, NSW. The manufacturing business headquarters of the company is based in Kolkata, India, while the global business is managed through Gainwell Engineering Global Pte Ltd, Singapore.

In early 2022, Gainwell entered into a technology licensing agreement for underground mining equipment with Caterpillar covering the manufacture of select models of continuous miners, face haulers, roof support carriers (shield haulers), scoops/multi utility vehicles and feeder breakers under the Gainwell brand. This followed an earlier 2018 agreement with Caterpillar to produce highwall miners.

The SH660 was Caterpillar’s heavy capacity shield hauler, designed to carry 60 t on the cookie plate. The machine is used for haulage of roof supports and the heavier ancillary components of longwalls. Vehicle dimensions are crucial in underground roadways, so the SH660 was designed to be compact, with a minimum profile and roadway presence.

The Kestrel coal mine is located in Emerald, Queensland. Kestrel is a single longwall mine – the longwall is 415 m wide, and up to 3.5 km long. The operation has a peak production of over 1 Mt a month, utilising 198 shields. Kestrel is a joint venture formed in 2018 between EMR Capital and Adaro Energy (80%) and Mitsui Coal (20%). EMR Capital owns a 52% share and PT Adaro Energy owns 48%.