Earlier this year, Sponsored Programs at Wheeling Jesuit University received a nearly $3M grant to find ways to improve mine safety technology. The funding will be used for several projects.
“Training is inconsistent. Some companies do a good job and some do a terrible job and so what we are trying to do is get the best practices and put them into a package and make it available for free for companies to use," said Davitt McAteer, former MSHA Director and vice president of sponsored programs at Wheeling Jesuit University.
“Secondly, we are looking at a program called mine of the future and involves assessing mining technologies to sustain advanced health and safety work which includes robots and other mine safety technologies,” added McAteer.
Sponsored Programs at Wheeling Jesuit University has partnered with Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh to develop the use of robots for mine safety underground.
McAteer said robots could be used instead of people in mine rescues. One robot has been sent for testing at the Dakota Mine in Raleigh County.
The Upper Big Branch Mine explosion in April is shifting some of the project's focus. The project now involves researching a centralized computer communication system that transmits information from the mine to an outside location for monitoring.
“The readings of methane detection in the mines and the readings of the pre-shift examination by foreman are written down in a notebook they are then taken out and put in an office to be taken out by someone else. We shouldn’t have that and that technology was not in place in this mine and needs to be introduced,” said McAteer.
The computerized communication system is used by some mining companies in the United States, including Consol Energy.
In Consol’s centralized communication system, information is fed directly from its mines in West Virginia and Pennsylvania through a fiber optic cable to the company’s corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh.
That way, mine readings for methane, ventilation, and production are read by several people 24 hours a day.
“The operator will then be able to monitor how a belt line is rolling with all of the rollers to see if there are any problems with the belt rollers or if there is an area of a coal mine is malfunctioning and ventilation is another big component of this monitoring system at the ventilation fans,” said Joe Cerenzia, Consol’s Director of Public Relations.
McAteer said he is also pushing for legislative changes in mining practices. He wants lawmakers to address the amount of rock dust used to help keep coal dust down and prevent mine explosions. Mines have been required to use rock dust, or ground limestone, since the late 1920’s.
“It is at 65 percent as we have advanced in the mining process and sped up and created finer coal dust, NIOSH studies have suggested that the amount of rock dust needs to be increased to make the coal dust inert at 80 percent and that introduction of that is one thing that we are working on to get into place and we are in consultation with the governor and senators for just introducing that change alone,” said McAteer.
Besides underground, the project also aims to help improve mine technology on the surface. Some of the funding will be used to expand the Coal Impoundment Project, which identifies impoundments in the state and gives safety and evacuation information.
In September, Wheeling Jesuit University is holding its fourth annual mining symposium in Charleston. Mining experts from several countries, including South Africa and Australia, will share new mine safety technologies and practices.
McAteer said a lot of the discussions will center around the Upper Big Branch mine explosion.
“One of the things that the symposium has helped us do is to introduce other industry ideas into the mining sector. For example, the NASCAR webbing that keeps them falling out of their cars at high speeds has been introduced in man trips and that was introduced at the second symposium,” said McAteer.
McAteer is also heading an ongoing, independent investigation into the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion.