About Us
Dallas Mining Services is a small but specialised consultancy that offers ventilation and other related services to the Australian mining industry.
Managing director John Rowland - often known as "JR" - founded the company in 1998 and initially offered a diverse range of services including longwall changeout projects, Undermanagers relief, survey work, assistance with management plans, explosion suppression system audits, underground water management and all ventilation-related work.
More recently, the business has become focussed entirely on ventilation related projects.
John Rowland has been in the underground coal industry for many years in technical and supervisory operational roles at 23 minesites in two states.
There would be few industry professionals that have been exposed to such a diverse range of underground conditions and situations, supported by John's appointments as an Undermanager at 18 different mines and appointed as Statutory Ventilation Officer at 12 different mines during that period!
John is widely known and respected throughout the industry across both eastern states and well recognised for his practicality and problem solving ability with operating ventilation circuits.
To compliment this extensive underground experience, John was one of the first students in Jim Galvin's Statutory Ventilation Officers Course (sometimes referred to as the “rocket scientists” course) run by the University of NSW (UNSW) throughout 1998-1999 .
This pilot course was run on block release for nearly 18 months and went on to become the inaugural Graduate Diploma Class when the first diplomas were awarded by UNSW in 2002.
John specialises in modelling, circuit diagnosis and system improvement and is frequently called upon to validate models if they are a poor replica of the circuit itself.
He is adept at getting a sick ventilation model back into tune and likens it to diagnosing and tuning an internal combustion engine, which has always been an alternate passion.
Ventsim models need regular tuning for safe predictive analysis. John is regarded as very proficient in the use of the Ventsim program and has assembled and runs a highly regarded, practical 2 day “Ventsim Training Course” which includes a practical summary of the science and the use of and applications of the “Ventsim” programme.
The key ingredient to the success of the course lies in the “hands on” practical tips on both model assembly/adjustment and the underground data collection process.
The ventilation specialisation comes not only from John's academic and practical experience, but also from his interest and passion in the science. John's broader surveying and mining experience also makes him valuable in assisting clients with the myriad of other mine planning based strategies such as;
- panel and mine design,
- extraction strategies,
- explosion suppression system design,and
- management plan assembly and auditing
Please feel free to contact John Rowland any time to discuss your specific requirements.