I work at a company that develops wireless communications systems. I'm a sales guy, but I am also technically aware. Mining is our biggest market and my specialty is mining. We cater to other markets as well. However, after the Sago Mine (West Virginia, 2006), the federal government mandated that all underground mines (priority on coal mines) must have a wireless communications system that provides voice comms and personnel tracking. I've been in underground coal mines in Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, Illinois, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and a few in Australia.
Want to know what is funny? I truly believe that the Federal government was acting in everybody's best interest when they came up with the MINER act of 2006. What was amazing is that everyone fought this. The mine companies fought it at first because it is basically an expense. But we were able to show pretty easily that having good comms throughout the mine makes the mine more efficient. We also showed that the personnel tracking could be extended to asset tracking, which is also very much needed in a mine that is spread out over 80 square miles underground. You know who fought it the most though? The unions. You should be asking yourself "why would the unions fight a system that is there to ensure the safety of the miners?". The answer disgusts me. And for me, this is not hearsay. i was in the meetings with the union reps and mine owners. You see, the unions didn't like the tracking thing. Because the tracking systems operating over our network would alert if there was a man down. In other words, if a miner was stationary for a set amount of time, let's say 15 minutes, that would send an alarm because that meant he was probably injured or worse. The unions were requiring that if it was discovered through the system that the man wasn't hurt (or worse), but instead was sleeping on the job, he couldn't be penalized for it. How's that for absurd?
BTW: I have spent hundreds of days underground. I am what is called a "red hat". Which means that I have been trained and certified to work in underground coal mines. But the fact is that I have never worked for a coal mine. However, if I won the lottery tomorrow, I would buy a small coal mine and work there myself. Well, maybe not coal, but some sort of mining. I love mining.
This is me setting up a temporary install as a proof of concept.
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This is me in a coal mine using the network to make a VoIP call to the surface. I also had full internet access at the working face of the mine.
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