Catastrophic lagging failure due to debonding occurred within two weeks of installation and operation of the pulley, resulting in a shutdown of production, and necessitated a replacement of the pulley. Within only two weeks of service, this ceramic lagging was already experiencing loss of the ceramic tiles.
The Curragh Coal Mine is an open cut coal mine located near Blackwater in Central Queensland, Australia. The mine supplies high quality, low ash coking coal and has reserves of approximately 90 million tonnes which is amongst the largest in the world. Coal from Curragh is shipped via the Blackwater rail system to the Port of Gladstone for export. Curragh Coal mine is owned by the Coronado Coal Group a US based company.
In early 2012 Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PKCT) identified a need to refurbish the drive pulleys on their two Stacker Reclaimer units. Included in this refurbishment was replacement of the lagging.
