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Australia

Connell Hatch Completing Dragline Drive System Improvements

Connell Hatch has been retained by the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance Business Improvement Group to modify the software-based dragline-drive control system at the Blackwater Coal Mine at Blackwater, Queensland.

BMA commissioned the development of the improvements after it was discovered that certain digging operations and methods could damage the boom. The modified electrical drive-control system will minimize the potential for damage while using the full power and flexibility of the Universal Dig and Dump (UDD) technology.

Dragline 26 will be used to test the modified drive-control system and if successful, the new control software will be implemented at the five other existing UDD draglines. Connell Hatch Brisbane is completing the project.