Weighing in at approximately 1.4 kilogram for a 12 hour shift, the GII “Northern Light” battery is believed to be the lightest cap lamp battery available to the Australian coal mining industry, said Austdac marketing director, Geoff Watkinson.

The battery incorporates a replaceable cell pack and is maintenance free in terms of the battery pack. It will give at least two years operation when personally assigned to an individual, Watkinson said. A solid state LED instead of a secondary bulb, minimises lamp maintenance.

“We have had over two and a half years experience with this model in a gold mine in Western Australia. And coal mine approvals have just been granted for use in underground coal mines,” Watkinson said.

The lamp uses a modular dedicated smart charger system that allows lamps to be left on trickle charge indefinitely without the need to take batteries off charge to prevent them from being overcharged.

Mine Site Technologies (MST) have worked with NL Technologies to produce a PED module compatible with the GII Lamp. This version of the PED enables the PED Receiver electronics to be fitted into the top cover housing. Additionally, this version of PED module can also incorporate the active Tag from the MST TRACKER Tagging System, allowing the location of personnel wearing the unit to be known at all times.

MST representative, Denis Kent, said the company is now in production of the first PEDs for use with the NL Technologies cap lamp. These first units have been ordered for non-intrinsically safe applications in a zinc mine in Sweden and a salt mine in Canada.

Austdac also offers the Radio Cap Lamp, the GIIIR, which accepts a standard Motorola GP 328 series radio, UHF or VHF, but this is not IS approved.