A modern roadheader system equipped with a Komatsu Mining-manufactured bolter miner has been handed over to Polish coal miner JSW during celebrations in Tychy, Silesia.

The event, which featured a demonstration of the system’s capabilities, acted as a precursor for the hardware being delivered to the Budryk mine in Ornontowice, one of the deepest hard coal mines in the world.

The coal miner said: “JSW’s decision to purchase the roadheader may mark the most significant technological breakthrough in the Polish mining industry for many years. The research and development project, entitled ‘Independent Rockbolt Support’, is an innovative technology which may change not only the roadway works performed in JSW mines, but also may provide valuable inspiration for development for the entire Polish mining industry.”

Back in January, JSW reported that SIGMA was to deliver a system normally employed for cutting longwall faces and other areas in mines for roadway excavation, employing this specialist bolter miner.

The project sought to adapt the solutions used globally in the most modern deep shaft mines in the US and Australia, among other places, JSW said.

Włodzimierz Hereźniak, President of the JSW SA Management Board, said: “This is a revolution in Polish mining. The implementation of this hardware aims primarily to increase mining and reduce its cost. All these efforts follow from our strategy providing for reducing mining costs and expediting preparatory works in JSW mines.”

The construction of the Bolter Miner 12CM30 in the US lasted one year. In May, the miner was delivered to Poland and, over the next few days, it will be disassembled and transported to Budryk.

There, it will be assembled in the “Bw –1N badawczy” roadway – a process expected to take around three weeks. The miner will start working in the pit in November. cutting longwall faces and other areas in mines to be used for roadway excavation employing a specialist bolter miner.

The roadheader will be equipped with a 5.6-m wide cylindrical cutting head, with the project involving construction of six anchors in the pit’s ceiling and three anchors in the sidewalls. According to the assumptions, the roadheader will drill 15 m/d in the pit.

The project is the company’s response to the challenges awaiting it in the years to come, one of them being the need to increase the front of preparatory works in its deep coal mines.

The modern system to be used in JSW has been developed by a consortium of cooperating entities: JSW Innowacje as the consortium leader, JSW, the Central Mining Institute and Komatsu Mining (Joy Global).