The End of the Line for
Roadway Development By Michael Kelly, CSIRO Exploration & Mining Michael Kelly highlighted that roadway development performance remains one of the threats to expansion of
Australia underground coal exports to the growing Asian market. In a recent industry study, automation was
highlighted as one of seven strategies for roadway development improvement. Growing Asian markets The expansion of the Asian coal market is a long term driver for expansion of the underground coal industry in
Australia - if significant productivity improvements are made. Imports of steaming coal by Asian APEC members are predicted to rise by from 150 MT to 190 MT. Australia is
one of the few countries which has a potential capacity larger than predicted internal needs. Predictions are for exports of black steaming coal from Australia to increase from 50.3 MT in 1992 to 106.3 MT
in 2010. To meet this prediction, an investment of $10.7 billion (in 1992 dollars) will have to be made in mining
and transport facilities. This is equivalent to the opening of a major new mine each year until 2010. Many of these mines will be underground operations. However, much of Australia's capacity to respond to
increased Asian demand will depend on its ability to develop underground technologies and improve
productivity. The inability to make sustained improvements in roadway development rates has to date been one of the main
reasons why new underground projects have failed to deliver the expected returns.