$12m Taste Of Reality

Illawarra Mercury

Wednesday June 21, 2006

By LINTON BESSER

ILLAWARRA coalmining training is to undergo a high-tech revolution through a $12 million training facility and virtual reality simulator.

Southern Mines Rescue has received Wollongong City Council approval for the complex at Woonona, which will employ as many as 85 people and have the latest computer technology.

Representing the biggest expansion of the rescue service since its inception in 1926, the centre will include an artificial underground mine - complete with phoney fire and gas eruptions.

The rescue service will move from Russell Vale to the Woonona site, which will also house the offices of Coal Services Health and Insurance and Coal Mines Technical Services.

The training centre, to put miners through a high-intensity reproduction of real-life disaster scenarios, would be similar to a training facility at Argenton near Newcastle, where 450m of tunnels were built in 1984.

The Coal Services development application states: "part of the training involves handling fires and gases, and simulating other situations which may be encountered in a real mine".

Mining engineering experts from the University of NSW have been working since 2000 to develop the $1.7 million virtual reality theatre for the complex.

Dr Phillip Stothard, of the university, said the theatre would be centred on a 7.5m "spherical screen" with video and computer-generated images reproducing typical mine scenes.

"... The image surrounds them and there's a better sense of immersion," he said.

Scenarios, ranging in time from five minutes to several hours, include attempting unaided escape from a longwall mine shaft, and assessing rib and roof stability in a shaft.

"It is revolutionary," Dr Stothard said.

Trainees would go through an artificial underground mine before ascending to the virtual reality theatre.

Underground sections of the facility have to be protected from floodwater - which is now being tackled by the construction firm Carson Group.

Underground exercises involving smoke will also be controlled by an exhaust chimney.

"Smoke from underground fires will be filtered and handled in a best-practice way to eliminate any disturbance for neighbours, and the systems will comply with all EPA requirements," a report to the council states.

THE TASKS

Three virtual reality scenarios:

1. Unaided self-escape from longwall mine shaft.

2. Assessing rib and roof stability in shaft and spot potential hazards.

3. Checking transport and machinery for hazards and faults before descending.