Coal news and updates

HBT acquires coal mining equipment specialist Waratah Engineering from Questas

HBT GmbH has advised that as of July 20, it entered into a Share Purchase Agreement to procure Australia-based coal equipment company Waratah Engineering from Questas Group. Waratah is well known for remanufacturing of longwall roof supports, plus overhauls of continuous miners and roadheaders, as well as producing its own equipment such as the WaraCar shuttle car and WaraBolter. The company’s facilities are in Argenton near Newcastle, NSW.

Waratah is a historic company and was founded as far back as 1923. Looking at its recent history, it was saved from bankruptcy in 2009 when it was bought by Polish coal mining equipment major Kopex and renamed Kopex Waratah, with Kopex going on to become part of Famur in 2017. In 2016 Waratah had been acquired from Kopex by Swanson Industries Australia (formerly Jarvie Engineering founded in 1952 which was acquired by Swanson in 2014), which became part of Questas Group in 2020.

Questas stated: “HBT Group are specialists in underground mining and recently bought Caterpillar’s underground coal longwall business. HBT Group were purposefully chosen with the intention that the natural ownership of Waratah continues. They are supportive of the vision to continue to create value and drive results, whilst maintaining the current strong position Waratah Engineering holds in the market.”

It adds that Questas leaves the Waratah Engineering business with a record order book, in part driven by the development of the WaraBolter – Waratah Engineering’s own underground MultiBolter. “The MultiBolter is a feat of engineering, custom designed by Waratah to be ergonomically advanced and with operator comfort in mind – it’s the epitome of speed, efficiency, and ease-of-use in a well-thought-out package.”

HBT stated: “This acquisition marks a significant milestone as we continue to build and develop our distribution capabilities, whilst enhancing our product portfolio, further enabling us to diversify and expand into other markets. As recognised by Questas, HBT are specialists in underground mining and were purposefully chosen with the intention that the natural ownership and growth of Waratah Engineering continues. HBT recognise and share in this vision and will continue to create value and drive results, whilst maintaining the strong position Waratah Engineering holds in the market.” HBT says the Waratah Engineering portfolio complements its existing product offerings and will further strengthen its global capability as a single solution provider.