Underground » Roadway Development
This report describes the outcomes of a strategic review of Australian roadway development practice, capability and requirements. It identifies industry priorities, what is considered best practice and why, and provides recommendations to support delivery on the ACARP Roadway Development Task Group's (RDTG) emerging 2030 roadway development vision. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this report describes the most comprehensive suite of research and development projects required to systematically advance the level of remote operation capability for roadway development.
The report provides a brief history of roadway development research since the formation of the RDTG as well as an assessment of current industry status and trends gained through engagement with over 70 stakeholders. This information was collated and reviewed to generate a crisp set of insights and recommendations. A key outcome was the identification of a set of high priority projects for each major roadway development process element.
In addition to important cultural and industry drivers for change, three major technical factors were consistently indicated by industry as requiring solutions in the drive for improved development productivity. These related to ground support, coal clearance and systems interoperability.
Among the major recommendations were:
- A need for a renewed, evolving industry-led R&D model to focus and accelerate roadway development innovation based on a co-ordinated approach across the industry encompassing developments in the process elements considered in this report.
- As part of the original CM2010 vision from 2005 should be recast as a “mission”, eg Remotely Operated Integrated Roadway Development to capture a broader level of engagement and align closer with industry drivers.
- Opportunities to explore and utilise existing solutions which have been highly successful in advancing the level of remote operations in longwall such as interoperability and integration of sensing and automation systems.
- Actively review and pursue the high priority industry focussed projects identified in this report - including scoping reviews, de-risking demonstrators, and development of operational systems - to advance roadway capabilities and expand industry expectations.