Stratajacks are a success at WCL Russell Vale Colliery

24 Jul 2015 10:33 AM - Our 49 x successful Stratajacks are now all in the goaf.

Our active set standing roof support Cougar Stratajacks continued to prove themselves in the market as WCL's Russell Vale Colliery longwall 6 advanced past the last 49th installed 900mm x 3.2 - 3.7m high active set Stratajacks  we installed as part of an original trial of 100 Stratajacks.

We stopped the trail short at 49 installed due to commercial reasons, but plan to return and continue working with WCL in the future.

Below is an email from Dave Stone, the Mine Manager at the time, with regards to his view of the overall performance and benefits of having our Active Set Cougar Stratajacks installed in his mine. 

On 9 Jun 2015, at 9:58 am, "David Stone" <dstone@wcl.net.au> wrote:

Craig,

I wanted to provide you and your business with feedback on the performance on the Strata Jack trial at Russell Vale Colliery.

Installation:

The Strata Jack’s provided several benefits over other alternatives currently on the market, this included:

-          Light weight outer that was easy to handle and reduced the risk on manual handling and pinch point injuries

-          Quantity installed in a shift was greater than a can with less ‘man time’ per unit installed. I note this is an area that will improved once the teams get the systems fully implemented.

-          Easier to set to the roof with the presence of the internal jack. This also provided for less roof deformation before a resultant force was placed back into the roof.

Performance:

-          The Strata Jack maintained the Tailgate roadway integrity as per design.

-          The Strata Jack appeared to yield in a uniform manner and did not explode, split or deform unevenly upon load.

-          The Strata Jack was easily cuttable, maintained its integrity with a section cut out and did not affect the chain / sprockets.

Financials

This is an area that the Strata Jack upon completion of the trail phase shows enormous potential. The key is the potential ability to install large quantities per shift thus:

-          Providing a low cost per installed unit

-          Less offline time for the Longwall due to TG secondary support delays.

WCL is planning to continue to work with Cougar on the Strata Jack process at Russel Vale Colliery with an aim of running this form of standing support for all LW tailgates

Regards

Dave Stone

Mine Manager

WCL – Russell Vale Colliery

Wollongong NSW

Australia.

It is worth repeating the fact that there were no extra long/cable bolts installed only the original 6 foot primary roof bolts, which were supported by our active set Stratajacks from time of installation to assist maintained and manage the strata beam above.

If a mining company could reduce their bottom line costs per tonne by even 0.1% by reducing their need for extra long/cable bolts to be installed, installing our active set Cougar Stratajack needs to be considered in the overall strata management plan.