CSIRO Exploration & Mining and Bucyrus Australia signed a non-exclusive worldwide licensing agreement giving Bucyrus access to CSIRO’s LASC longwall automation technology.
CSIRO developed the technology with funding from the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) to locate and guide coal-cutting equipment in underground longwall mines.
Bucyrus was the first longwall OEM to collaborate with CSIRO in the development of the technology at BMA’s Broadmeadow, Xstrata’s Beltana, and Anglo’s Grasstree mines.
Now with this license agreement in place, Bucyrus becomes the last major OEM to include the technology in its equipment.
“It is important to the industry that all miners have access to the technology, whatever their supplier of choice,” said CSIRO Business Unit Leader Exploration and Mining Mike McWilliams.”
The goal was to make the benefits of improved productivity and the movement of people away from hazardous working environments of the automated systems universally available to industry, added added ARP Executive Director Mark Bennetts.
”Now, with the signing of Bucyrus, every major manufacturer around the world can include LASC technology in its longwall equipment.”
This outcome is the result of extensive and close cooperation between CSIRO, industry and the manufacturers.
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