Ensham Resources is delighted with the performance of the second biggest dragline in the world, which it has commissioned at its central Queensland mine.

The huge machine was a $116 million investment which has proved to be a triumph of complex project management and international cooperation.

Ensham is one of Australia’s largest independent thermal coal producers. Its open-cut coal operation is located in the Western Bowen Basin, approximately 40km north east of Emerald.

Since it commenced operations in 1993, Ensham has achieved strong growth in production and sales, currently exporting over eight million tonnes of high-energy thermal coal each year.

The company’s vision is to be a sustainable supplier to the world’s energy markets for decades to come.

Ensham Chief Executive Officer John Pegler says the key to Ensham’s long-term sustainability is maintaining cost competitiveness.

“Well, Ensham has a billion tonne coal resource, so it means that planning for the enterprise must focus on mining technologies that hold its costs well down the supply/cost curve,” Mr Pegler says.

“That means that for a deepening resource such as we have, that we must make best use of dragline technologies. So the Dragline Four project was the first part of the revival of Ensham to make sure it had the maximum possible amount of deep stripping capacity.”

On completion this would be the second-largest operating dragline in the world. Bucyrus has been a leader in the design and construction of these earth-moving giants for over a century. Bucyrus has continued to use engineering and innovation to improve and grow these monsters.

“This is a huge project,” Bucyrus CEO Tim Sullivan says. “It’s a project that goes over almost a three year period of time from date of contract to completion and commissioning. It’s over a $100 million investment, which is huge. It’s a prime mover for the mine site, it’s a big order for us to process through the plant … so as far as magnitude, they don’t get any bigger than this.

“Completing a contract like this and a project like this, is really a huge sense of accomplishment. There’s a lot of moving parts that go into the original proposal, the actual contract negotiations, the manufacture and commission of a machine of this size. Over a three year period of time a lot of people have to pull in the same direction. Both teams were exceptional at bringing this to a very successful conclusion.”

Says John Pegler says the project was a great example of good teamwork.

“The Ensham dragline project was the culmination of efforts of many people at Ensham, both in the engineering teams at head office in Brisbane, in the production teams at the mine site, in the teams of the suppliers, especially principal suppliers Bucyrus, and the construction contractor G&S, and the multiples of suppliers behind them, from all over the world, and so it was a great example of how those multiple strings or multiple threads can be drawn together to create a successful outcome in a planned and coherent manner,” Mr Pegler says.

This result was a credit to the exceptional risk management, planning, and a collaboration focused on outcomes, by all parties. To date the machine has exceeded performance expectations and is on its way to meeting the investment criteria set by Ensham’s owners.

“It will take about five or six years of operation of this machine to recover the investment that was made, which was about $A116 million,” Mr Pergler says. “It will make savings though in operating costs from the first day of its operation.”