Employee led innovation and community engagement has seen New Hope Group (NHG) once again shine on the national stage.
Employee led innovation and community engagement has seen New Hope Group (NHG) once again shine on the national stage. Initiatives out of New Hope's New Acland and Jeebropilly Mines have led to the Queensland Company being named as finalists in three categories of the 2018 Australian Mining Prospect Awards. The awards, to be presented at a gala event in Sydney on October 18, rewards Australian mining companies going above and beyond in the innovation space. New Acland Mine's trial of X-ray sorting technology has the company in the running for the Minerals Processing of the Year award. In this unique trial, New Acland coal engineers took technology previously used to sort household rubbish and repurposed it to sort coal in the coal handling preparation plant (CHPP). Not to be outdone, engineers at the company's Jeebropilly site developed a Temporary Bin Access System which has made a marked improvement to almost every aspect of coal bin access. The team's ingenuity has seen the mine in contention for the Innovative Mining Solution award. At a grassroots level, NHG's ongoing commitment to improving community health and safety outcomes around New Acland Mine has put the group in line for the Community Interaction award. Through its partnership with LifeFlight, NHG has developed the Rural Safety Program, with New Acland crews helping deliver safety workshops to community members and schools. New Hope Executive Manager of Mining, Jim Randell said the nominations demonstrate the benefits of an employee-driven approach to innovation. "We encourage our crews to push the boundaries when it comes to innovation and our reputation as an industry leader is a direct result of that culture," Jim said. "The teams behind innovations like the X-ray sorter and Temporary Bin Access System are experienced miners, they know what it means to work in a CHPP and their designs reflect that. "The end products address issues in a way that only those familiar with the operations could know - that's why you see improvements to safety as well as productivity and cost."
