The Minesweeper was developed for a Hunter Valley Underground Coal Mine to clean underneath the main tunnel conveyor belt. Due to the 1 in 3 incline of the main tunnel, coal has a tendency to roll off the belt and build up underneath the belt giving rise to safety concerns through friction creating a fire risk and also damage to the $1.5m belt itself.
Up until the deployment of the Minesweeper the cleaning task was carried out manually with crews shovelling coal back onto the conveyor belt. A costly and slow method of critical maintenance.
The Minesweeper was designed to fit within the tunnel envelope on a flat top carriage that could be lowered down the main tunnel.
Once in position the Minesweeper extends it’s gathering head under the conveyor belt. Attached to this gathering head is a narrow conveyor belt that loads gathered material back onto the main conveyor as the gathering head rotates and moves up the main tunnel at around 2 metres/min.
