Becker Mining Systems has demonstrated the possibilities of a modern longwall system in a planned delivery to Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa’s (JSW) Budryk coal mine, in Poland.

The longwall complex produced by Becker Warkop Sp.zoo, in Poland, is one of the most modern in the industry, according to the company. It will work in Europe’s deepest coking coal mine, Budryk, owned by JSW.

Before the longwall complex arrived at the mine, Becker Warkop hosted a factory test and presented its capabilities to the management of JSW on August 6 (pictured).

Tomasz Budniok, CEO of Becker Warkop Sp.zoo, said: “The longwall complex, which we hand over to JSW, is one of the most modern complexes of this type in our country. Innovative technical solutions have been applied in it. The complex ensures safe operation and high efficiency.”

The new complex will operate in the Cz-2 face in the 405/1 deck at a depth of 1,290 m. This is the first longwall made available within the JSW investment program, ‘Construction of the 1290 level’, according to the company.

The commissioning of the longwall will initiate the exploitation of the seams 405/1 and 405/2, which have resources amounting to 68.5 Mt of hard coking coal, according to JSW. The commencement of the exploitation of longwall Cz-2 is planned for the turn of 2019/2020.

Włodzimierz Hereźniak, President of JSW, said, by the end of the year, the processing plant of the Budryk mine will be modernised and prepared for the production of high-quality coking coal.

“At the same time, we will start underground mining of deposits rich in good quality coking coal,” he said. “According to the current strategy, the share of coking coal in the Budryk mine’s production in 2020 will amount to over 50%, including hard coal – and will increase in subsequent years to about 65%. When launching new walls, we introduce new technologies, without which the development of JSW is impossible.”

The Cz-2 wall is 205 m long and almost 900 m in overall length. The average thickness of the seam is 3.1 m, and its resources amount to over 750,000 t of hard coal. The longwall complex to be used in the Cz-2 longwall consists of 118 Becker Warkop powered roof supports, each 1.75 m wide. The 7LS22 longwall shearer, the loader and the longwall conveyor are manufactured by Komatsu (Joy).

In addition to all the necessary equipment in the longwall system, an air-conditioning system has also been integrated to improve the working conditions of miners at the face, according to the company.

Engineers at Becker Warkop Sp.zoo took care of the safety of miners working directly at the face by designing, among other things, a passage for the crew in front of and behind the powered roof support section stands, the company said.

In accordance with the requirements of the mine, the safety of the workers servicing the shearer has also been ensured, with 24 of the 118 powered roof supports equipped with specially designed telescopic wall shields to protect the workers from falling rocks at the shearer. Another innovation will be the section geometry control system.