The Middlemount open cut coal mine is located in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, one of the world’s premier coal mining regions. Middlemount is a 50/50 joint venture between Yancoal and Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private-sector coal company. NRW Civil and Mining have been contracted to provide the mining services. At Middlemount, NRW use Hitachi excavators and trucks for overburden removal and coal mining.
View short video clips throughout this case study on the NRW Civil and Mining operation at the Middlemount coal mine. (1min, 13s).
NRW mobilised to the site in 2011. According to Shaun Lucas, who was recently General Manager, East Coast Operations, for NRW Civil and Mining, the operation was initially a small one, but in line with the contract, capacity has increased over time. NRW are now using 6 Hitachi excavators, including:
NRW also have a fleet of 23 Hitachi AC-drive dump trucks, including:
NRW have been asked to expand the coal mining operation at Middlemount beyond the initial dirt volume of 32 million cubic metres of overburden a year.
NRW increased the number of their fleet of Hitachi machinery which significantly increase their production performance.
Hitachi machinery delivers better performance, higher uptime and helps reduce maintenance.
On the next page, we will explain why NRW needed to expand the operation of removing the overburden.
