Tag Archives: Moranbah

Anglo American Australia workers herald new frontline safety program

Anglo American has leveraged the experience of its coal mine workers to devise its new frontline safety program, the Fatal Risk Management (FRM) program.

Through a bottom-up approach, frontline workers have been empowered to shape FRM, a program that, the company says, is easy to use and doesn’t add another layer of red tape.

Anglo American Australia CEO, Dan van der Westhuizen, said embedding frontline workers in the project team was crucial in designing the simplified and standardised tools as they understood the risks better than anyone else. He said the team included a mix of operators, coordinators, supervisors, superintendents and contractors across its Bowen Basin operations.

“Fatal Risk is not a new concept for the mining industry and learnings from our people, peers and industry experts have informed our approach,” he said. “Our point of difference has been cultivating FRM from the operator level to leverage the insights and experiences of our frontline workers to ensure we have the best chance of getting it right.”

The FRM program comprises 14 Fatal Risks and 50 crucial Fatal Controls that sit underneath risks and these must be in place to help prevent a fatality from occurring at the frontline. Every job. Every time.

“These 14 Fatal Risks are sobering because they represent circumstances where a teammate in our business or industry has lost their life or been seriously injured on the job,” van der Westhuizen said. “It’s not often you get a chance to stop, take a step back and create a new way of working but we knew we had to make a change. Everyone deserves to go home to their families, friends and loved ones at the end of every shift.

“We know change is not easy and a culture doesn’t change overnight, but we know we are moving in the right direction.”

Anglo American was a finalist in the 2024 Prospect Awards for the rollout of its FRM project – created by the frontline, for the frontline.

Capcoal Exploration Supervisor, Will Parfitt, who has been in the mining industry for more than 17 years, said he had been proud to represent his colleagues as a member of the Fatal Risk frontline team.

“There is nothing more important than the safety of my colleagues across Anglo American and this is one of the most important things I’ve done,” he said. “I’m really proud to be involved. We now have one universal Take 5 book and Job Risk Assessment template across all operating divisions – among the last lines of defence when it comes to identifying and managing risk at the frontline.

“Five different variations existed before which was extremely confusing and painful for our workers and contractors who work across multiple sites. It wasn’t an easy process – we each brought our own views, perspectives and things we thought our individual sites wanted and needed. We recognised early on that we wouldn’t be able to please everyone or achieve perfection. We wanted to design the best tool that met the needs of the majority.

“When coupled with the other tools in our FRM system, our Take 5 provides the prompts to change our frontline’s perception and tolerance to risk.”

Moranbah North Mine Underground Coal Mine Worker, Lil Shanley, who has just returned from the International Mines Rescue Competition in Colombia, was also a key member of the FRM development team.

“When someone doesn’t return home, the impact is significant on the families, friends, colleagues, community and the industry. The ripple effect is devastating,” she said. “Ultimately, we’re all here for the same reason – nothing is more important than safety. I’ve worked across almost the whole Bowen Basin and the simple tools are the ones that work best.

“If it’s too complex, people don’t understand it and they won’t complete it properly for fear of getting it wrong. There is nothing confusing about these new tools and the people using them are the ones who have come up with them. I am proud of being able to make the decisions that are going to become a legacy.”

Capcoal Dozer Operator, Emily Page, also involved in the FRM team, said she loved mining and could never go back to a normal nine-to-five job but being on site for a fatality was “the worst thing in the world”.

“If we can make sure everyone goes home every day, that’s the most important thing,” she said. “The most important thing to come out of the mine is the miner. I just don’t want anyone to lose their life, not just in Anglo American but in the industry; it’s got to stop.”

Anglo American defines Fatal Risk as something that has the potential to immediately kill a worker on the frontline during a task. Sadly, these Fatal Risks represent a circumstance where someone in the business or in our industry has tragically lost their life in the past. Under each Fatal Risk are 3-5 Fatal Controls which are the crucial few controls that need to be in place to help prevent a fatality on the frontline. Importantly to meet the criteria of being a ‘Fatal Control’, any worker must have the ability to implement and check that the control is operating as intended– with the power truly being in a frontline worker’s hands.

Shaun Dando, Safety Leadership Practices Coach at Grosvenor, says: “If you asked me until recent times, I would have struggled to identify the Fatal Controls most relevant to me – we have over 1,000 critical controls on file. With FRM, we have narrowed that down and now the controls relate specifically to the Fatal 14, which is so practical and user-friendly.

“I look at that list of 14 and can put faces and names to those risks. I have lost workmates to a number of them, so there is a real reason to have them; it is so we all go home safely – every day,” he said.

BHP partners on OTR tyre recycling and repaving project in Queensland

In a Queensland first, crumb rubber created from giant mining tyres has been used in a trial to resurface one of Queensland’s major highways, BHP reports.

The trial was a collaboration between the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), BHP and the Australian Flexible Pavement Association, with the aim to investigate if a crumb rubber modified binder made from a 100% OTR mining tyre could be used to construct a spray seal for Queensland roads.

Two giant BHP mining tyres, each over 4 m high and weighing 4.2 t, were used in the trial.

Although OTR tyres make up to 25% of ‘end of life’ tyres in Australia each year, OTR tyres are only 4% of the tyre waste rubber that is recovered.

The recycling process started with cutting up the tyres to remove steel and fibres, followed by crushing and crumbing the rubber into crumb of a suitable size. The rubber crumb was then bagged ready for transport to the bitumen binder production site. The crumb was blended into the binder, which was then transported to its final destination for spraying onto the road surfacing.

One giant mining tyre, in this context, provides 3.55 t of crumb rubber, able to seal up to 3.5 km of rural highway, BHP says.

The Peak Downs Highway where the repaving process took place links the towns of Mackay and Clermont and is the main link between Queensland’s Whitsunday Coast and the Central West region of the state near Moranbah.

Acting BMA Asset President, Tim Day, said the collaborative approach provides the mining industry a sustainable way to reuse tyre waste that would otherwise end up in landfill.

“It will have a positive impact on the environment, as more than 6,000 tonnes of tyres can be used to seal roads,” Day said. “This is a great example of how the by-products of mining can be used to positively affect the local communities where we operate, and we look forward to exploring how we can now further expand this trial to other road surfaces around the country.”

Lydia Gentle, Manager – Portfolio Delivery at BHP, was at the forefront of the trial saying she’s proud of the final outcome.

“It was a fantastic collaboration between BHP, TMR and our industry partners, and marks an exciting start to a more sustainable future for our tyre waste,” Gentle said.

Since completion, the highway surfacing has performed very well in Central Queensland summer heat under the intense mining traffic and continues to be monitored, according to BHP.

Anglo American restarts longwall mining operations at Grosvenor

Anglo American plc has announced the safe restart of its Grosvenor metallurgical coal mining operation in Queensland, Australia, more than 20 months after a methane explosion that injured personnel led to longwall activities being suspended.

Anglo American received confirmation from the regulator, Resources Safety and Health Queensland, on February 16, 2022 that longwall mining operations could now recommence following the gas incident in May 2020.

Tyler Mitchelson, CEO of Anglo American’s Metallurgical Coal business, said: “We have been working towards a safe restart at Grosvenor for several months and today we are up and running having received our regulator’s approval last week. Over the past 18 months, we have worked with leading industry experts and invested significantly in automation technology, remote operations, gas management and data analytics, introducing a number of advancements in the
way underground coal mines can operate.

“Nothing comes before safety and I thank our workforce, our local stakeholders and our customers for their patience and support as we bring Grosvenor back into production.”

Last year, Anglo American Australia committed another A$5 million ($3.8 million) towards improving safety at its underground coal mines in the country following the release of recommendations from the Board of Inquiry’s report into the Grosvenor gas incident.

Following confirmation of the restart at Grosvenor, while export metallurgical coal production guidance for 2022 is unchanged at 20-22 Mt, due to the impact of COVID-19 in early 2022 and a later than expected restart of operations at Grosvenor, production is expected to be towards the lower end of the guidance range. As a result, unit cost guidance for 2022 is revised to around $85/t (previously circa-$80/t and compared to 2021 unit costs of circa-$105/t). These
figures are subject to the extent of any further COVID-19 related disruptions.

Anglo American takes to tablets at Australia UG coal mines

Anglo American says it has launched Australia’s first electronic tablet device certified for use in underground coal mines at its Moranbah North mine, in the Bowen Basin of Queensland.

The introduction of these tables represents a major step forward in the company’s aims to digitise its operations, according to Tyler Mitchelson, CEO of Anglo American’s Australian business.

He added that digitisation was a key part of the company’s FutureSmart Mining™ approach, which applies innovative thinking and technological advances to address mining’s major challenges.

While standard tablets have been used underground at many mines around the world for at least a few years, it is the presence of potential explosive gas mixtures in some underground operational environments – coal, in particular – that inhibits any device being taken below ground that does not meeting ‘intrinsically safe’ regulatory approval. This is due to the potential risk of ignition from energy sources within such devices (eg standard tablets and smart phones).

Mitchelson said: “Following the successful launch at Moranbah North mine, we are now moving towards rapid deployment across all our underground sites including our newly-approved Aquila mine, which will be developed as one of the most technologically advanced underground mines in the world.

“The tablets capture and share real time production, safety and environmental monitoring information with operators, ensuring critical information is readily available to key personnel and removing the need for paper records.”

They also provide direct access to the company’s Safety Health Management System and can be used as a portable video communication device (via Skype) to instantly access personnel working at the surface level, according to Mitchelson. “This will accelerate trouble-shooting and can also be used as a live video link in case of emergencies.”

He added: “Any delays or challenges can be reported and addressed on-the-spot to reduce lost production time, instead of relying on traditional communication methods such as phone calls, underground travel or hard copy reports being submitted and reviewed at the end of a 12-hour shift.”

The tablets are already enabling improved communication and information sharing underground, Mitchelson said. This should ultimately lead to safer, more productive mining, he added.

The introduction of underground tablets followed significant work towards automating longwall operations and digitising the company’s mines, according to Mitchelson, with Anglo American recently completing its first pilot longwall shear from an above-ground remote operating centre at the Grosvenor mine.

The device was developed in collaboration with product manufacturer, Bartec, and tested to achieve certification with the Queensland Government’s Safety in Mines Testing and Research Station, the company said.

Executive Head of Underground Operations in Australia, Glen Britton, said implementation of the tablets followed a successful pilot earlier this year at Moranbah North mine, which was already receiving positive feedback from operators.

“Each week at Moranbah North mine, around 400 statutory reports and 2,500 maintenance work orders are generated. The team there aims to be paperless within two years, and the introduction of these tablets will enable us to remove underground paperwork and transition to electronic storage of statutory and production reports,” Britton said.

“Over the last five years, we have invested considerable resources in the development of this technology, to ensure the product was fit-for-purpose. We sought out a manufacturing partner to help create a new technical solution for managing our data, undertook an extensive certification process and improved underground Wi-Fi capabilities at the mine.”