has largely focussed on products that can deliver measurable productivity improvements to our customers. These successful improvements have included higher product strengths, fewer installation steps, fewer bolt installations required, greater installed quality and reduced surface and underground logistical requirements. In most situations, these improvements are quantifiable and the subsequent cost improvement can be considerable.

The most successful of these new products has been JENNMAR’s Spin2Stall/Rapid Development resin bolting system, with more than 13 million of these bolts being installed in Australian underground mines since their introduction in early 2014. The commitment shown by JENNMAR and our customers to develop subsequent cost improvement measures and jointly maintain them, has enabled detailed quantification of the sustained benefits.

JENNMAR’s Mech Lok Bolt is designed for easy installation in poor and difficult conditions such as squeezing and quazi-static ground. The Mech Lok Bolt is an effective alternative to resin bolting, requiring no changes to existing Jumbo drill rigs for rapid and efficient installation.

To date, the benefits of these successes have been limited to measuring the improvement on the ground support installation process and in some cases to additional development advance being achieved.

However, it is possible that a larger cost improvement benefit is being overlooked by limiting the evaluation to the directly related activities. The flow on effect of cost improvements should be considered across the entire mining operation rather than being isolated to the directly related activities.

Data captured by JENNMAR over the last eight years has demonstrated that small sustainable time savings (productivity improvements) over an extended period can lead to operational cost improvements of a magnitude that can never be achieved from cost savings.

If you want access to new product developments designed specifically for Australian mining conditions, the greatest chance for the success comes from partnering with an Australian manufacturer. The time commitment required to develop and evaluate new products and systems can be considerable on both the supplier and the customer, without adding the additional time required for the evaluation of overseas produced products.

At the Ground Support 2023 conference, JENNMAR will be launching a completely new ground support system, Falcon Bolt.

JENNMAR’s Falcon Bolt has the potential to change how you select your ground support, how you install your ground support, and how you measure the overall benefits achieved from these decisions.

We look forward to the opportunity to catch up with our many friends and associates within the mining fraternity in Perth in October. Sharing global developments, and hearing about the important advancements being achieved elsewhere within our industry.