Crinum East Coal Mine is owned by BMA a partnership between BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd and is located in the Bowen Coal Basin of central Queensland, Australia.
The Requirement
The mine wanted to install a tracking system that could monitor and control the movement of personnel and machines into the longwall panels. Access to these areas needs to be controlled for two main reasons.
– Firstly because each longwall panel has a limited number of Self Contained Self Rescuers (SCSRs) in their caches which restricts the safe number of personnel permitted in the area.
– Secondly because the available ventilation quantity governs how much diesel equipment can operate at any one time.
By using the Access Control features in the ImPact Tracking System, the software can be set up to count personnel and machines entering an area and can automatically trigger stop signs at the longwall entrance should the numbers exceed the allowable limit.
Additionally, the mine also wanted to be able to better manage the general movement of machines, implements and personnel to better manage their undergrounds activities, particularly during the longwall moves
The Solution
After considering various solutions the mine chose Mine Site Technologies’ ImPact Tracking solution. The initial system comprises of 12 strategically placed ImPact Wireless Access Points (WAP’s) connected via the dedicated composite fibre and power cable, 140 vehicle tags and 140 Integrated Communications Cap Lamp (ICCL) tags, combined with AeroScout’s MobileView software.
The mine has a number of existing ICCL’s and has been using the PED for several years as their primary emergency communication system. Given the unique ability to integrate the active RFID tags in to the mine’s existing ICCL units, as well as the new ICCL’s, streamlined the installation requirements. The other main factor was the flexibility and ease of use of the tracking software. Client specific customization, little need for IT intervention and web browser capabilities where all major factors in the mines choice of MST’s solution
The Future.
The initial installation will rolled out in to non-hazardous areas and will be extended in to the Intrinsically Safe (IS) sections of the mine within 12 months. Additional Access Points will also be deployed to increase signal coverage underground to allow the use of MST’s VoIP phone for two-way voice communications when intrinsic safe approvals are completed.
MST look forward to working with the Crinum engineers in implementing this system and thank them and BMA for the support of our latest digital communication technologies….more at Mine Site Technologies