Mining messages

Jeffrey Simmons
Bland County Messenger: News >
Tue Jan 20, 2009 - 03:57 PM

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

Text messaging is going underground – literally.
In response to new regulations mandated after January 2006 coal mine disasters in West Virginia, American Mine Research of Rocky Gap has developed an electronic system to track and communicate with miners.
In tandem, AMR’s Mine Net tracking system and Mine Net Messenger will fulfill what are expected to be the two key components of federal regulations that become effective June 15: tagging/tracking miners and providing them with a two-way communication device.
“This is a radical change,” said Bob Saxton, AMR’s general manager, about the new regulations.
The Mine Net tracking system, which Saxton said is already in place in six mines in West Virginia and Southwest Virginia, uses underground reader boxes and electronic tags on miners’ helmets to communicate the workers’ locations in the mine back to the surface.
An aboveground employee then can view each miner’s status using accompanying computer software that shows what zone of the mine each miner is in and keeps a history of each miner’s movements.
Mining companies also can input a profile for each miner into the system, allowing the monitor to see a photograph of the worker and details such as job title, height and weight.
“You can put a face with that tag,” Saxton said, adding that the technology generally tracks each miner within 300 to 500 feet of the precise spot where he or she is standing.
In the immediate months after the two disasters (on Jan. 2, 2006, at the Sago Mine, 12 miners were killed after an explosion and, on Jan. 19, 2006, at the Aracoma Alma Mine No. 1, two more miners died after a fire), Saxton said mining companies tracked miners by having them regularly stop their work to make calls using mine phones back to the surface.
The surface monitor then had to manually note the miners’ locations and the time of their calls.
In addition to being tedious, Saxton added that the task often distracted miners from focusing on their jobs.
Feedback from some of AMR’s initial customers has shown that the Mine Net system alleviates most of those issues, said Amanda Ruble, a marketing representative for the company.
“They said one of the major benefits of it is that they feel confident that their employees have their mind on what they’re doing, not having to stop and call and get their mind off their work,” Ruble said. “It’s not more safe just because they’re being tracked outside on a computer, but it’s more safe because their mind’s where it needs to be.”
The tracking tag also doubles as a one-way communication device for the miners, allowing them to send simple Morse code-like messages of dots and dashes that can be translated on the surface.
At this point, Saxton said the six mines using the new technology only have the tracking system in place and not the Mine Net Messenger.
That will be changing soon, though, as Saxton said the company is sending out upgraded tracking system hardware this week and hopes to start shipping the two-way messaging devices by the end of March.
The Mine Net Messengers are separate handheld gadgets that allow miners to send text messages to each other or back up to the surface.
The surface monitor also can send messages down to individual miners or to the entire group of devices.
The devices come with pre-set messages such as “SOS” or “need an EMT,” but also allow the miners to freely text any information they may need to send to each other or back to the surface.
The gadgets also include other gadgets such as a flashlight and a program showing the location of refuge chambers.
The chambers, which are supposed to include supplies to survive in an emergency situation, are another new regulation stemming from the 2006 tragedies.
In the future, Ruble said, the company hopes to include full mine schematics on the Mine Net Messengers.
In all, Saxton said the company already has made deals with nearly 30 mines to purchase the Mine Net products, which he said as a total package generally range in cost from $100,000 to $500,000 depending on the size of the mine.
“We have a huge backlog of these,” he said.
Due to the high cost of the technology, Saxton said there really was no demand for it from the mines prior to the mandated regulations.
“It goes back to the old adage of if it’s not required, we’re not going to use it,” Saxton said. “The mines were hit with a big blast of regulations that required them to spend more money and so we wanted to make this price competitive. We’re certainly not a nonprofit organization, but we also know what the coal industry can take and what it can’t take.”
Saxton said AMR’s long history of working with the mines and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (the company has been in business since 1975) allowed it to be well-positioned to develop the newly mandated products.
All of the product design has been done at the company’s Rocky Gap headquarters, while the devices are manufactured in Princeton, W.Va.
The general manager also added that the company has been able to get the system actually up and running in the mines quickly because of its existing infrastructure.
AMR already had cables in place in many mines that connect up with carbon monoxide and other gas readers. Saxton said the tracking system was easily integrated into the existing framework.
As the products continue to be refined, Saxton said the company will be able to market gas monitoring, miner tracking and communication tools into a single, comprehensive package.
Ruble said most of the men in her family have worked underground and its satisfying to know that her company is having a direct impact on miners’ safety.
“That just kind of hits home and makes you feel proud about what you do,” she said.
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 1-800-655-1406 or nhubbard@wythenews.com .

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