Joy Mining Machinery Scores Flawless Longwall Start-Up


WARRENDALE, PA November 2007-Following what was described as "a flawless start-up" of its new JOY longwall roof supports and armored face conveyor (AFC), another second JOY AFC and two new beam stage loaders (BSL) will be delivered to the Oaky North Coal Mine in the Bowen Coal Basin of Central Queensland, Australia.

The new JOY roof supports and AFC were installed in the mine's SLW5 longwall section, a block measuring 3,472 metres (11,391 feet) deep by 225.3 metres (739 feet) wide and totaling nearly 3.5 million tonnes (3.9 million tons) of coal. Development for the longwall is accomplished utilizing two JOY 12CM12 continuous miners and JOY 15SC32 shuttle cars.

Taking just eight months to complete from ordering in September of last year to start-up in April 2007, the 127 JOY 2 metre (6.6 foot) wide, 2 x 120 tonne (132 ton) roof supports include Joy's state-of-the-art RS20s control system and the 48 mm x 1000 mm raceway toe-riding AFC is equipped with the JOY Ultratrac 2000 haulage system.

The two replacement JOY BSLs have twin 35 metre (115 foot) long JOY 42mm Broadband Low Profile Chain with single 450 kW (603 hp) inline transmissions at the delivery ends and non-driven return ends. The JOY stage loaders each are capable of handling 4,800 tonnes per hour (5,291 tons per hour).

Oaky North Coal Mine is a joint venture 55% owned by Xstrata Coal Queensland, 25% Sumisho Coal, Itochu Coal Resources 10% and ICRA OC Pty Ltd. 10%. The mine opened in 1996 and today produces nearly 5 million tonnes (5.5 million tons) annually.

Joy Mining Machinery, a subsidiary of Joy Global Inc., is a global leader in the development, manufacture, distribution and service of underground mining machinery for the extraction of coal and other bedded materials. For more information on Joy Mining Machinery visit www.joy.com

Lou Boltik
Director Marketing Communications
724-779-4557 (USA)
lboltik@joy.com

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