Published in June 2009 Australian Longwall Magazine, trial starting July.
Peabody Energy Australia’s Metropolitan mine in the Illawarra region will trial the leaky feeder radio system along with the UHF two-way radios, which received IECex approval in early March.
Metropolitan general manager Neville McAlary is already familiar with elements of the Becker technology after working with it in South Africa.
“Metropolitan has reviewed the technical and operational merits of the Becker system and has advanced to a full-blown underground trial,” he said.
Another NSW mine will also trial the suite of Becker communication solutions.
Both trials are expected to last two to three months.
Becker NCS managing director Tony Napier said the technology would also be used in Queensland. In late May, Becker NCS signed a deal with contractor Redpath Australia to supply a UHF leaky feeder system for use at the Kestrel longwall mine in the Bowen Basin.
Becker’s UHF and VHF two-way radios enable miners to communicate underground either directly (point-to-point) or over its already approved leaky feeder system. The radios provide voice communication and have a number of features, such as messaging, emergency calls, man-down and multiple channel support.
Underground coal mine operator and consultant Brian Nicholls said the personal radio system would enable coal miners and supervisors to communicate in real time and on a number of different radio channels.
“The improvements in safety and emergency issues due to a constant and immediate communication around the mine operations should not be underestimated,” Nicholls said.
“Similarly, the potential efficiency gains in the mining operations will be enormous.”
Nicholls said personnel in the various operating business units, including longwall, development, services, maintenance and more, would be able to be in constant and immediate contact over their operational, maintenance, supply or organisational needs.
“The personal mobile phone system is finally here for use in our underground coal mines. It has to be one of the most important steps toward substantial safety and efficiency gains to be introduced into our operations in many years,” he said.
“My only regret is that this system was not available when I was running major longwall coal mines during the past 20 years.”
With the release of the radios under its belt, Becker is working towards several other releases for this year.
The company plans to launch its collision avoidance and personnel avoidance systems late in the year. Napier says the personnel avoidance system works by the miner wearing a tag that doubles as a tag reader, alerting them when they are in proximity to a vehicle.
In the third quarter Becker plans to officially launch its WiFi PDA phone, which will enable mobile computing underground.
Meanwhile, parent company Becker Group has signed distribution agreements for its flameproof electrical products with i.Power Solutions in Queensland and Vale Statutory and Mining Services in NSW.
