CEO of Anglo American’s Metallurgical Coal business, Tyler Mitchelson, said the company is already acting on the recommendations of the Board of Inquiry’s report that was released today, including $60 million of investment in safety initiatives over the last year.

“We are today committing a further $5 million to fund underground mining research, in partnership with our industry research and technology partners, to improve the industry’s knowledge in certain technical areas.

“We have been clear from the outset that the incident on 6 May 2020 in which five of our colleagues were badly injured was unacceptable. The safety of our workforce is always our first priority.

“Over the past 12 months, we have put in place a range of measures to address issues that have come to light through detailed investigations and evidence before the Board of Inquiry. Over this period, we have already committed more than $60 million in technology pilots, additional gas drainage infrastructure, expert reviews and further improvements to a range of processes and controls.

“Underground coal mining, particularly in the area where Grosvenor Mine is located, is complex with many interacting considerations and, as the Board has identified, further research into certain technical areas such as gas and spontaneous combustion management would benefit the industry. We will be helping to advance knowledge in these areas through our further $5 million funding commitment.

“The Board of Inquiry’s reports have made a number of recommendations, and we are confident we have already addressed, or will address, these ahead of the restart of longwall mining at Grosvenor Mine later this year.**

“Anglo American’s Operating Model, our primary operational management system, is currently being updated at Grosvenor and, together with a range of other measures such as the use of data science, it will ensure we have the very latest in systems thinking, design and technology to ensure operational stability and control, and ultimately safe production.  

“The use of automation and remote operation presents us with the single biggest opportunity to remove people from high risk areas and we are fast-tracking this work across our operations, including commissioning ground-breaking research into automation in development mining with CSIRO.”

Mr Mitchelson said that following the implementation of the recommendations from the Board of Inquiry, the industry would be safer. 

“The Board of Inquiry undertook a very thorough examination of a range of issues relating to underground coal mining, and we have been committed to learning everything we can from the process and acting as quickly as possible to implement improvements.

“Over the past 12 months, we have engaged closely with our workforce, particularly at Grosvenor, as we’ve worked through the issues and resumed underground activities at the mine last month. We are continuing to support all of our colleagues involved in the incident in May last year, and this will remain a priority for our team.”

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Please click here to view our latest Safety briefing, which outlines the key pieces of work under way across our underground operations.

**Work underway includes:

• Removing our people from higher risk areas:

• Strong progress in automation and remote operation across our underground operations, including completion of a new Remote Operations Centre at Moranbah North Mine and the procurement of new longwall equipment for Grosvenor Mine, which will be set up for remote operations from the restart of mining operations.
• We are partnering with Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, to undertake a world-first trial of technology to support automation in the roadway development phase of underground coal mining.

• Enhancing our underground mining controls:

• We have commenced a pilot study at our Moranbah North Mine to assess the use of pressure sensors to remove power from the longwall face. Initial laboratory testing has been successfully completed and pilot hardware has been installed at Moranbah North Mine. Hardware and processing systems will be installed at Grosvenor ahead of restart.
• A further layer of quality control has already been introduced for the supply of Intrinsically Safe underground mining equipment

• Investment in data and strata capabilities to change the way we mine:

• Our newly-established Met Coal Analytics Centre (the MAC) is already operationalising gas and strata management analytics to predictive capabilities, with work under way to support our mines. It brings together operational, engineering and data science experts to look at major challenges and opportunities for the future of our mines.
• We are combining enhanced analysis capabilities with new information access (including new resource models, exploration data, mapping and modelling) to improve operational strategies and benchmarking across longwall blocks.

• Gas management improvement measures are underway:

• Allocated $1.5 billion for gas management over five years across our underground mines
• Completed a project to increase gas drainage capacity at Grosvenor Mine
• Introduced enhanced gas management reporting across the business
• Sourced industry-leading external experts in ventilation and gas management to bolster internal expertise in developing an integrated gas management plan for Grosvenor Mine
• Commenced work on seven key initiatives to enhance gas management capabilities, including new initiatives to the coal industry, such as use of underground in seam (UIS) horizontal floor holes in the gas draining drilling strategy.

• Enhanced practices and processes to eliminate spontaneous combustion events:

• We already have extensive monitoring and proactive goaf inertisation practices in place across our underground mines, and are investing in further initiatives, including reviewing our existing management plans and response plans with both internal and external experts, introducing a new longwall slow retreat response plan (TARP), data management and automation upgrades, and proactive foam injection into the goaf to optimise the goaf management system.

• Prioritising safety learning and reporting:

• A review is under way into the existing incentive structures at our sites with input from our workforce, to look at how we can focus on leading indicators, in line with Anglo American’s global Elimination of Fatalities program.
• Last year we announced that, to support alignment with Queensland statutory reporting, any gas exceedances of above 2.5% in our underground mines will now be treated as Anglo American HPIs as a High Potential Incident in accordance with our global risk management processes.