News

Power lift for mine dozers wins top safety innovation award

Posted on 26 Aug 2011

cat_d10n.jpgA remote-controlled platform developed to more safely maintain large mining industry bulldozers has taken the premier Innovation Award at the 2011 Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference. An MMG Century mine workshop team led by Rod Dugmore was judged by an expert panel and the conference’s 700 delegates as the award winner from a field of 10 finalists. The People’s Choice award was won by Xstrata Coal’s Oaky North mine in the Bowen Basin for its Carbon Fibre Vent Tube Project while BHP Billiton’s Cannington mine in North West Queensland was highly commended for its Light Vehicle Penetration Protection System.

The 10 finalists from around Queensland were acknowledged for their ongoing commitment to improving minesite safety by the Minister for Employment, Skills and Mining, Stirling Hinchliffe during a gala dinner.

MMG Century mine is Australia’s largest open pit zinc mine located southwest of Burketown in the Gulf of Carpentaria. It produces some 500,000 t/y of zinc. The Strongback Power Lift developed by the mine’s maintenance workshop team assists in servicing 200 kg protective plates located beneath D10 bulldozers.

The remote-controlled platform operates on its own tracks as a fetch and carry device, relieving a tradesperson from having to work beneath the bulldozer while extracting or re-fitting a belly guard. The maintenance procedure was assessed by the workshop team as a ‘high-risk’ task and addressed as a precautionary measure.

Injuries associated with the installation of essential undergound mine ventilation systems was the motivation for the team at Xstrata’s Oaky Creek coal mine to investigate the viability of alternatives to fibreglass vent tubes. Carbon fibre substitutes were commissioned and trialled. They combined first class durability with one third the weight of their fibreglass equivalents.

New materials are also in evidence at BHP Billiton’s Cannington silver, lead and zinc mine where strategically positioned Kevlar sheeting is providing additional protection for vehicle occupants from foreign objects that could penetrate light vehicle bodies.

The 2011 Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference concluded on Wednesday with an entire session devoted to an overview of New Zealand’s Pike River disaster. The session was led by Queensland’s Commissioner for Mine Safety and Health, Stewart Bell, who served as a Commissioner on the New Zealand Government’s inquiry into the disaster. He was joined on stage by Ken Singer, Queensland’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Coal Mines and Wayne Hartley, manager of the Queensland Mines Rescue Service.