Pulford and ELGi are turning 100 years of experience into advanced solutions for Australian mine sites.
Compressed air is mining’s invisible workhorse. It’s effectively a fourth utility alongside water, electricity and gas that powers everything from pneumatic tools and conveyor systems to dust suppression and equipment cooling across Australia’s vast mining operations.
On remote mine sites where reliability is paramount and the cost of unexpected downtime run into the millions, working with the right air compression partner becomes a critical factor.
Enter the team from Pulford, a name synonymous with excellence in compressed air service and innovation for 100 years.
Now part of global original equipment manufacturer (OEM) ELGi, Pulford combines a century of local expertise with cutting-edge international technology and manufacturing capabilities, delivering solutions engineered specifically for the demanding conditions of modern Australian mining operations.
A century of unbroken growth
Pulford’s journey began when the company pioneered Australia’s first locally manufactured piston compressors in 1925, breaking new ground in a market dominated by overseas imports.
ELGi Australia managing director Mark Hollingsworth said the company is proud of its heritage and has been celebrating its centenary throughout 2025.
“We started from very humble beginnings and kept true to our vision of innovative products for our customers,” he said. “We navigated world wars, recessions, booms, and the business grew every year throughout that term.”
Strategic acquisitions have broadened the company’s reach even further. Pulford acquired Advanced Air Compressors in 2015, which expanded its capabilities in food and beverage and larger industrial applications. Then, in 2018, Pulford was the target of its own “transformational” acquisition from India-based ELGi.
Hollingsworth said this has brought new global equipment manufacturing capabilities to the Australian operation, while still preserving the customer relationships and local expertise that had long defined the Pulford brand.
While compressed air remains Pulford’s core business, the company has also developed specialised nitrogen generation systems that address critical safety challenges facing open-cut mining operations.
ELGi Australia national service manager Ben Smith said these innovative solutions tackle one of mining’s most dangerous scenarios.
“A big issue that mines face with their trucks is around safety on tyre fires, lightning strikes and the like,” he said.
Traditional compressed air in tyres contains oxygen, creating combustion risks during electrical storms or equipment malfunctions.
“Filling tyres with nitrogen stops any chance of a fire and also prevents explosions within the machine itself,” Smith said.
The technology works by replacing oxygen-rich compressed air with pure nitrogen inside tyre chambers. Nitrogen molecules are larger than oxygen, preventing permeation through rubber and maintaining consistent tyre pressure longer. More critically, the inert atmosphere eliminates fire and explosion risks, allowing operations to continue safely, even during lightning events.
Pulford’s containerised nitrogen systems are engineered specifically for mine site constraints, including power limitations and extreme environmental conditions.
The company’s turnkey installations serve major mining operations across Australia, including in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Queensland, and throughout Western Australia. This includes one set of eight EG250 compressors, which are one of the largest ELGi’s installations through a channel partner. They provide safety assurance and the operational continuity on which mines depend for maximum productivity.
Predictive intelligence
Mining operations demand absolute reliability, and ELGi’s advanced remote monitoring capabilities are designed to ensure equipment issues are identified and resolved well before they impact production.
The company’s proprietary Air Alert system provides real-time monitoring of compressor performance across remote mine sites, delivering critical intelligence directly to service teams.
“We monitor everything, and everything’s online,” Smith said. “We get live updates if there are any issues with the machine, so we can actually pre-empt what’s happening before it ends up causing an issue.”
The monitoring technology integrates seamlessly with on-site building management systems, providing operational data that helps optimise overall site efficiency. For equipment running on a near 24-hour schedule in harsh conditions, this connectivity proves invaluable.
Remote diagnostics capabilities mean technicians can assess situations and coordinate responses without immediate site visits, significantly reducing response times.
Beyond emergency response, the system supports structured preventive maintenance scheduling.
“If a compressor’s running 8000 hours per year, then we’d be planning to travel to site every three months to perform preventative maintenance,” Smith said.
This combination of predictive monitoring and scheduled maintenance ensures mining operations maintain the maximum uptime essential for profitability in a competitive mining sector.
Australian mining operations present some of the world’s most challenging conditions for industrial equipment, and Pulford’s solutions are engineered specifically to thrive in these extreme environments.
From the scorching heat of north Queensland to the dusty conditions of the Pilbara, its compressors must perform reliably in an environment where failure isn’t an option.
“Our products are designed for high ambient temperatures,” Hollingsworth said. “It gets pretty hot out there in north Queensland and WA.”
Thanks to the wider ELGi range, the company’s experience extends well beyond Australia, with proven performance also in the extreme conditions of the Middle East.
Mining operations typically require substantial compressed air volumes, with systems starting at 75 kilowatts and scaling up to massive 540-kilowatt installations, which deliver more than 3000 cubic feet of air per minute. These large-scale systems are built to operate continuously, maintaining peak performance in what are often dusty, and corrosive environments.
ELGi’s vertical integration provides additional reliability advantages. As one of the few companies that owns the complete manufacturing process, quality is controlled at every stage.
The products are manufactured in India, and backed by International Organisation for Standardisation accreditations, ensuring they meet the highest global standards for quality, safety, and performance.
This manufacturing control, combined with 10-year warranties, help to give mining operators confidence their critical compressed air infrastructure will perform reliably, even in the most demanding conditions.
This feature appeared in the September edition of Australian Mining.
