The bolter miner manufactured by Joy Global Komatsu was purchased in the latter half of last year. This new machine will be delivered to the Budryk mine in Ornotowice in June of this year. This is an effect of the “Independent Roof Bolt Support” project implemented in Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa. This system is less expensive and will make it possible to excavate roadways more quickly. These systems are used in the most modern deep shaft mines in the US and Australia, among other places. JSW will be the first miner in the Polish mining industry to employ a roof bolt reinforcement system.

Part of the “Independent Roof Bolt Support” project called for appointing a task force to design a set of comprehensive equipment to ensure efficient ventilation, dust removal and efficient coal haulage. This set of new machinery will be part of the equipment in the bolter miner. It will enhance work productivity while ensuring top-notch mine crew safety.

“We can boldly speak of making a breakthrough in the Polish mining sector. The project team has met this challenge by designing and customizing a set of modern equipment to meet continuous operating and safety requirements outfitted with machinery to do cutting on mine faces and in other areas”, proudly states Daniel Ozon, President of the Management Board of Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa.

Implementing this new equipment in the mining sector is the outcome of many months of work done by the project team consisting of employees of a Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa mine, JSW Innowacje and SIGMA, which has extensive experience in designing mining equipment.

“One major challenge faced during the course of the design work was to fit longwall face cutting equipment within the physical dimensions of the bolter miner and to design coal haulage to ensure that large quantities of winnings can be handled instanteously and for this operation to be conducted jointly with the bolter miner without any downtime. This goal stemmed from the necessity of exploiting the bolter miner’s work time as effectively as possible”, explains Jacek Srokowski, Vice-President of the Management Board of JSW Innowacje, the leader of the project team. 

This equipment contains a rolling belt conveyor with a bridge feeder designed in such a way so as to fit within the sliding range of the rolling belt conveyor’s structure. In addition, the structure of the rolling belt conveyor allows for the placement of a set of devices, forming in their entirety a compact unit of the coal haulage system. 

“SIGMA has always been an innovative company and we eagerly get involved in such innovative tasks. It was a prestigious endeavor to cooperate with Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa and participate in this project. For many years companies have spoken about independent roof bolt reinforcement systems but JSW is the only one to have made the decision to introduce them”, says Paweł Hajduk, President of the Management Board of SIGMA SA.

The overall configuration of the equipment for cutting on longwall faces and in other areas coincides with the time for delivering the bolter miner.