Yallourn Mine Alliance

In 2002, Yallourn Energy (now TRUenergy Pty Ltd) awarded an alliance contract to the Roche Thiess Linfox (RTL) Joint Venture for all mining activities at the Yallourn Mine, in the Latrobe Valley.

Initially, RTL was awarded a five-year mining contract at the Yallourn Mine, worth approximately $42 million per annum – this was extended to 2012. Negotiations are underway to extend the contract to 2015.

RTL introduced a new and innovative brown coal mining technique that saw traditional Bucketwheel Dredgers replaced by CAT D11R Carry Dozers pushing to feeder breakers.

The technique has provided a less capital intensive mining method and provides 100 per cent coal supply reliability.

Annual coal production is 17 million tonnes and the coal is mined on a 24 hour per day, 365 days a year basis. Three-and-a-half million cubic metres of overburden is removed annually.

RTL has a sub alliance with Silcar to provide maintenance services for the fixed plant (eg. coal conveyors) within the mine.

Continuous improvement is an area of key focus for RTL’s management. The 6Sigma Business Improvement process has been successfully applied to key activities in the mine and has resulted in reductions to mining costs year on year.