Bens Creek starts work with replacement highwall miner

5th May 2023 11:47

(Sharecast News) - North American coal miner Bens Creek Group announced the arrival of a second highwall miner (HWM) on Friday, after it experienced issues with the initial one.

The AIM-traded firm said HWM unit number 77 had arrived at its site in pieces about eight weeks ago, but delays in infrastructure and software issues with its electronics caused problems with its operation.

Despite the best efforts of Mega Highwall Mining, the company's highwall mining contractor, certain electrical components were unobtainable, making it impossible to complete the necessary work.

After consultation between Mega HWM and Bens Creek, it was decided that a replacement highwall miner was the only alternative.

Mega HWM identified another highwall miner, unit 81, and moved it to the site on 1 May.

The firm said the machine was assembled and tested by 4 May, and was now fully operational.

Its initial announcement on 23 March hinted at the arrival of a new HWM, and Bens Creek said it was "delighted" to confirm that operations had now started with the second HWM.

"While we are obviously disappointed that we wasted considerable time with a highwall miner which proved to be unusable, we are delighted at the speed with which Mega HWM have moved to correct the problem," said chief executive officer Adam Wilson.

"We are now in the position to advance quickly to full production and deliver on our commitment to our shareholders."

At 1101 BST, shares in Bens Creek Group were up 4.48% at 17.5p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.