New digger helps Metal Innovations Holdings open up mining

Mar 12 2008 by Sion Barry, Western Mail

A South Wales company which is developing pioneering new machinery to boost the economics of small mines has unveiled it latest creation.

Metal Innovations Holdings (MI) has launched the Celtic Miner 1500, two months after moving into a 50,000 sq ft factory unit at Vale Business Park, Llandow.

The two-tonne, tracked, hydraulically powered machine has been designed principally to tackle small seams in drift mines which might otherwise be too difficult or costly to work.

Abandoned narrow seams, in South Wales and elsewhere, still contain many millions of tons of coal. Rocketing prices – and demand – have produced a wave of interest in MI’s bespoke machines.

Because of its power, size and versatility, the creators of the Celtic Miner 1500 say it will be ideal for other uses, including tunnelling, debris extraction and rescue work. A prototype has successfully completed months of rigorous testing in MI’s own mine in Torfaen.

The 1500 joins the tank-like Celtic Miner 4500 and a range of other machines, including a multi-purpose transporter, hydraulic power packs, tracked chassis and conveyor systems, which have been developed by MI’s engineering team, formerly based in Ogmore Vale.

The company has been praised by the Small Mines Federation and Tower Colliery’s Tyrone O’Sullivan for its innovation and technical skills in producing machinery specifically for operators of small mines. MI, which has been providing bespoke engineering solutions for 10 years, staged a series of open days at Llandow for investors, suppliers, industry representatives and Welsh Assembly Government officials.

MI managing director Gareth Thomas told visitors the company planned a substantial expansion of its mining interests, in Wales and England, through purchases and joint ventures, using its own machinery to gain a cost-effective edge. It is also holding talks with a leading international construction company who want a modified Celtic Miner 4500 to carry out excavation trials in service tunnels for a high-profile project.

Mr Thomas said the three-metre long, 66cms high Celtic Miner 1500, which simultaneously cuts and feeds coal on to an in-built conveyor, gave smaller operations the output normally achieved at much larger mines, for a significantly lower capital investment.