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MINING SERVICES | Cougar Mining Group
COUGAR MINING GROUP
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A one-stop shop for Australia’s underground coal mining sector
MINING SERVICES | Cougar Mining Group
Cougar Mineworks was founded in 1999 by Craig Barnett, who initially worked as a fitter across Queensland’s Bowen Basin region and also in Papua New Guinea. The business grew steadily over the next decade, taking off after 2009 when Barnett and Chad Dillinger established Cougar Minehire. At this stage, the company morphed into a contracting and hire company for the underground coal mining industry. This growth was consolidated in 2012 when the pair formed Cougar Mining Group through the amalgamation of several mining services entities. Dillinger explains that Cougar’s growth over the last 20 years is a testament to his business partner’s ability to spot opportunities as they arise and capitalise on them. In fact, Cougar has not just built on its services over the last two decades, it has also diversified into new areas and today Cougar provides a full range of services to the underground mining space across the East Coast of Australia. One would expect that the fortunes of a company like Cougar would have been hampered by the recent downturn in the
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MINING SERVICES | Cougar Mining Group
global commodities industry, which impacted
equipment from auctions whilst repairing our
hundreds of Australian mining services firms
own fleet in preparation for when the market
from 2013 to 2015.
turned around.
However, during this testing period for the
“We also changed the dynamic of the
resources industry, Cougar was able to
business from a direct run of mine hire
maintain growth while hiring staff and buying
company to a service, repair, overhaul and
equipment at every opportunity.
support business. We basically added a number of offerings to the business which
“It was a very difficult time for the industry,
gave us crucial stability.”
including Cougar,” admits Dillinger. “During this time, we took the opportunity to
Cougar’s underground hire fleet is the second
consolidate our workforce, retaining our core
largest in Australia and offers run of mine
people to build our business as others were
and longwall relocations equipment, while its
retracting.
field services include repair and overhaul and spare parts support.
“We took the risk, borrowed funds, invested in new equipment, bought second hand
Echoing Dillinger’s earlier sentiments on
equipment at a discounted rate, and acquired
Cougar’s activity during the downturn,
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Barnett reveals that the company bought
the major resources hubs of the East coast,
second hand gear from all over the world at
with employees based around workshops in
opportunistic prices. “We just had to back
Mackay, Emerald, Newcastle and Wollongong.
ourselves, plus we overhauled and repaired all of our equipment ourselves in-house,
In fact, wherever coal is produced across the
without relying on third parties and we did
region, Cougar employs people there. The
that very efficiently.”
company also tries to support local people
An empowered workforce However, the most important consideration
and businesses as much as possible through its work in the regions. “I am local to Newcastle and that is where
for Cougar during the slump was maintaining we are based, so we are still very much a stable workforce. While there were some
a local business, and Craig is local to the
small-scale changes to the workforce, the
Bowen Basin coal mining area. We do try and
company was able to preserve and build
support local business as much as we can, for
on its core staff complement and has been
instance we have seven apprentices that we
reaping the benefits ever since.
employ from local areas.”
Cougar employs more than 150 staff across
Barnett believes that this apprenticeship
MINING SERVICES | Cougar Mining Group
scheme is important not only for Cougar
With a reliable staff base, Cougar has been
and the individuals, but also for the wider
able to expand its service offering during the
industry, which has suffered a significant
last few years to the point where today there
shortage of tradesman for decades now.
are four business divisions under the Cougar umbrella: Cougar Mining Group, Cougar
“There was even a shortage of tradesman
Drilling, Cougar Stratajacks and Cougar IME
when I did my training 35 years ago. We
(Industrea Mining Equipment).
have identified that and tried to put back in what we have got out of the industry, so
Adding Industrea
we try to employ far and wide in the local
The last subsidiary on the list, Cougar IME,
communities.”
was established after the company’s recent
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acquisition of Industrea Mining Equipment
offering that Cougar can give to the market,”
from General Electric in January 2018.
says Dillinger.
Going forward, the Cougar IME brand will focus on the production of mechanical and
“We saw a lot of the OEMs and major
electrical equipment, essentially providing
manufacturers backing out of the market and
Cougar with the capacity to manufacture
somebody needed to support the Australian
a full range of underground equipment as
underground coal mines for the equipment
well as the Original Equipment Manufacturer
that was being sold and operated in Australia.
(OEM) rights and responsibilities for 800 machines across the world.
“Someone needed to step forward and support the equipment that was in use. We
“The main thing it has done is add another
MINING SERVICES | Cougar Mining Group
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saw the acquisition as an opportunity for
Along with Barnett and Dillinger there are
Cougar to increase the size and scale of our
two other specialist drilling managers who
business and to support the equipment we
are shareholders working in the business,
already own, but also to support the industry
transitioning the partnership into a new form
with an install base of around 800 machines
of involved ownership.
worldwide.” Cougar Drilling is the company’s dedicated After the IME purchase, Dillinger and
underground in-seam directional drilling
Barnett agree that the company’s array of
entity, which competes with three major
equipment covers most requirements of
drilling services companies in the region.
an underground mine in the coal industry, placing Cougar in a strong strategic position
The majority of Cougar Drilling’s work is
as it looks to further build the business.
centred on methane gas draining and water
Cougar Drilling
drainage, which are essential processes in the safe cutting and production of coal.
The Cougar Drilling business was established
Further to this, Cougar Drilling designs and
in 2016 with Barnett and Dillinger appointing
manufactures innovative directional drilling
Justin Tredinnick as the managing director.
systems for the open market.
MINING SERVICES | Cougar Mining Group
Cougar Stratajacks
in the market due to the fact that it allows
The Cougar Stratajacks division offers the
the mine site to complete high volume
latest development in secondary roof support installations in a safe environment from systems for the mining industry.
ground level.
The worldwide patented Stratajack is an
“We have taken a lot of the interaction from
active standing roof support.
hostile work environments away with this product,� he says.
Barnett believes this product is superior to competing secondary roof support systems
Cougar Stratajacks has been an eight-year
Resource Global Network installed to date with 4,000 of those being installed in the last 12 months. “The key points for the Stratajack are: It’s safer, it’s faster to install, it’s more economical to the end user and you actually get a better result to control the roof and the floor,” Barnett summarises.
Cougar’s 20th anniversary As Cougar approaches its 20th birthday, Barnett and Dillinger state with confidence that the company is a vertically integrated OEM offering the full suite of services to the underground coal mining space. “We have built our offerings strategically as we have seen opportunities arise. During the mining downturn, we realised there were things that a mine just could not turn off, so we focused on those. “Cougar continues to develop a strong order book into the future as the coal mining industry enters a solid period of sustainable growth.” venture that has matured greatly over the last year moving from research and development phase to commercialisation. “It’s still in its infancy in terms of penetrating major market volume. We have about 6,000
b j
Published by Anderson Murray Media Ltd
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