Georgia-based Strata Products moved into the production of refuge chambers in 2006, and in October that year was spurred by an order from Illinois-based tunneling contractor Frontier-Kemper for a custom-designed chamber that would fit on a rail car behind a tunnel boring machine.
That order was followed by another from a hard rock mining company in Tennessee for a large number of chambers and refuge room kits, which are built in underground areas sectioned off from the rest of the mine.
Paula Gunnels, sales director with Strata Products, said the company has now provided refuge chambers to all major United States coal companies and a number of Australian hard rock mining contractors.
She said Australian companies using Strata’s chambers include Lihir Gold-owned Ballarat Gold Fields, Barrick Gold, Consolidated Minerals, Henry Walker Eltin and Yanzhou Coal Mining’s Austar operation in New South Wales.
Gunnels also said demand for the company’s refuge chambers had increased since the introduction of the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act, which was signed by President George W Bush in June 2006.
The introduction of the Act meant operators of underground coal mines were required to make significant improvements to their accident preparedness.
The legislation also required mining companies to develop emergency response plans specific to each mine they operated.
“Mines have had to comply with the new regulations and have been ordering refuge chambers with 96 hours of breathable air,” Gunnels said.
She said the introduction of the MINER Act in the US would also affect demand for Strata’s products in overseas markets.
“We believe that everyone is watching what is happening in the States, and will adopt certain rules that are applicable to their industries,” she said. “The MINER Act has increased business for us in other countries in the field of refuge chambers.”
She said a carbon dioxide scrubber that requires no electrical power was a particularly special feature of the Strata refuge system.
“We developed a CO2 scrubber that is powered by compressed air as opposed to mine power or batteries,” she said “This makes it safe for use in coal mines.
“Every operation we are associated with now views safety as a major priority and are spending enormous time and resources working to improve safety. The technology we offer with the chambers was not available a year ago.”
The CO2 scrubber, which works together with medical grade oxygen cylinders and can provide clean air for up to 96 hours, acts as a secondary back-up system for the chamber in the event that it is disconnected from the mine’s air supply.
Primary operation includes attaching to the mine’s main airlines and power sources for an indefinite supply of air and power.
The lighting system in the coal chambers consists of a Mine Safety and health Administration-approved flashing location light to help locate the chamber and MSHA-approved hand-held flashlights for light inside the chambers
Powerless cooling can be provided by use of chemical cooling.
Looking to the future, Gunnels said that among the technologies on the horizon for underground coal mines were improvements to communication and underground tracking technologies, and the ability to safely power these in hazardous environments for the amount of time required.
She said skills would also be an issue going forward.
“We see an increased shortage of skills and so being in a position to assist our customers in these areas is something we are really focused on.”
