MST mining engineer Denis Kent told Australian Longwall Magazine the Bowen Basin longwall mine has ordered 442 Integrated Communications Cap Lamps (ICCL) with PED pager and RFID Tags based on UHF signaling, rather than digital.

"They want to implement the system quickly, so they wanted an already approved version that is ready to go, plus there are a number of reference sites in New South Wales and Queensland that must have given them confidence in making the decision," he said.

"The ability to have the PED Receiver and Tag in the ICCL was another big factor, as part of the project is a complete upgrade of their cap lamp fleet away from the older type lead-acid batteries."

The system will also be used for tracking personnel to enhance the mine's emergency preparedness systems.

"Asset management of their equipment fleet was a big driver, not only to control access into ventilation zones, but also to better allocate and manage their equipment by knowing where it is at all times, in real time," Kent said.

Meanwhile, like most other mining equipment companies, MST has been eager to break into the competitive United States market at a time when the nation's mine safety laws require more advanced equipment and reliable communication methods to be installed.

Kent told AL that while most big US operators are setting themselves up to implement new equipment, smaller operators may find it difficult because their operations are often operating on quite low profit margins.

"Australian coal miners have, at least over the last decade or so, been prepared to invest in communications more readily," Kent said.

"This could be partly because of the extra responsibility they have in their guiding principle of 'duty of care' to their workers.

"But more so because they have more flexibility in setting up safety systems, and to keep this flexibility they tend to try and exceed expectations."

The US mining industry, on the other hand is much more prescriptive; with laws stipulating what the mine operators must buy.

"So its two different philosophies to safety at work - I think the US is looking at how different countries, and particularly Australia, manage safety, and I believe that some of their good operators will look to migrate to the risk assessment approach over there."

In the past 12 months, MST has also taken orders for PED and ICCL at Datong Coal Mines in China, but most of their recent sales overseas have been to the hard rock industry in Peru, US and Canada, for extensive leaky feeder and ImPact systems.

Research and development

MST has completed significant research and development projects over the past four years, and is beginning to see the work pay off as more miners in Australia, America and other countries overseas invest in safety.

Two future draw cards for MST will be the two-way PED project and the proximity detection project - both in the early and late stages of research and development respectively.

When the two-way PED module becomes available, it will be designed to fit onto MST's ICCL, which is already operating at coal mines in Australia and China, and is expected to receive US approval soon.

"Based on work done by CSIRO under an ACARP research grant, the two-way PED project is exciting, as people have wanted a true, two-way, through the earth communication system ever since we released the original PED," Kent said.

"We feel the work done with CSIRO has given us the base to finally achieve it."

In May, MST signed an agreement with Australia's leading industrial research and development organisation, CSIRO, to complete the two-way PED technology which will allow a miner underground to receive a message and respond directly back to the surface.

The company has already demonstrated a prototype of the module at two US mines, where it received a positive response.

An extension of MST's tracking technologies, the proximity detection project is sponsored by ACARP and is being done in conjunction with Xstrata Coal.

"Basically we are extending the use of the RFID tags we have installed on our ICCLs at mines like United and Springvale, to be used to alert drivers of the approach of a person within the vicinity of their vehicle," Kent said.

The technology could have significant safety implications, considering the many mine fatalities that result from miners becoming trapped or hit by large vehicles and equipment. "The initial trials have gone extremely well, so the technology works well and reliably but detailed work on using the system outputs is now a priority," Kent said.

MST is now working closely with mine operators to determine exactly how they would best use the data, such as determining what type of alert or warning would be best to give the driver. "Once that is done we will complete the operator interface and get it produced and approved - both are large tasks that we aim to have done during 2008," Kent said.

New products

MST has new and upgraded products due for release, which will also be showcased at the upcoming Asia Pacific's International Mining Exhibition in Sydney this September.

ICCL with VHF radio.

"Despite all the effort in digital communications, leaky feeder radio systems are still popular in hard rock mines, and though we don't sell any to the coal mines in Australia we have over 20 coal mines in the US using our VDV Leaky Feeder System," Kent said.

The VHF is the most effective and universally accepted frequency band for two-way voice, data and video.

An upgraded ImPact Digital suite.

Kent told that while leaky feeder is still a good option for basic voice and data, it is limited in its use for very high data applications like video, on-board vehicle diagnostics and remote control.

ImPact provides an alternative to leaky feeder technology that offers increased bandwidth, and hence data quality and capacity. When ImPact is approved for coal mines, it will work as a complement to PED.

"We are working towards getting some of the key components approved for use in coal mines. These include the actual Access Points, plus some peripheral devices to operate off the digital signals, such as integrating VoIP telephone and RFID Tag into our ICCL," Kent said.

"We have these devices working in hard rock mines, so we know the benefits the mines get, but it will be 2008 before we get them available in coal mines."

MST will demonstrate the tracking and proximity aspects of the ImPact system at AIMEX, as well as the two-way communication side using VoIP phones, and the vehicle diagnostic interfaces.