CTC @ Tech Sponsoring Mine Safety Demonstration

 

Saving Miners Lives: MSTC Showcases West Virginia Company’s Ideas to Track Miners

 

MONTGOMERY, W.Va. _ Imagine a piece of equipment the size of a deck of cards, but with the sophistication and power of a missile guidance system. Now imbed it in the gear of an underground coal miner, and you have a system that can save lives.

At least that’s the concept a small West Virginia company is developing.

Extreme Endeavors and Consulting Inc., based in Phillipi, beat out several megafirms to land one of two $200,000 “proof of concept” contracts awarded by the National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health. The other is SYColeman, a division of L-3 Communications, the nation’s sixth largest defense company.

The Mine Safety Technology Consortium, created in the wake of the recent mine tragedies to help state institutions develop systems to protect underground miners, will showcase the developing concept at a 1 p.m. news conference on Dec. 4. The conference will be held at the Upper Kanawha Valley Technology Community Building, 326 Third Ave. in Montgomery.

Extreme Endeavors is the entrepreneurial brain-child of Michael Masterman and others who served with him in the late 90s at the Amundson Scott South Pole Station. The company develops state-of-the-art sensor technologies to support communications, monitoring and data acquisition in harsh, remote environments and micro-climates.

It has also developed a prototype for a protective suit for fire fighters that provides real-time monitoring of their vital signs.

For miners, “what we’re looking at doing is taking, basically, the controls and position measurement of an entire missile and packaging it onto humans,” Masterman said. “We have to design a piece of electronics that people do not realize they’re wearing and that’s going to fit into their work environment.”

Extreme Endeavors will display an early prototype and discuss the technology at Tuesday's showcase. "What you'll see is a test frame that is for prototyping in a short time frame," Masterman said. "The actual core components are in place and ready to go to the size of a deck of cards. If our testing goes as planned we will be ready for production in under nine months." Extreme Endeavors is seeking additional contracts to supplement the NIOSH funding take it to that point.

“The hope is to create a system that not only will enable rescuers to find miners who become trapped in a mine accident,” Masterman said, “but will provide a ‘system of systems’ that utilizes advanced technology underground to prevent the accidents in the first place, providing a safer and more productive work environment.”

“This is not an endorsement of Extreme Endeavors’ product,” said MSTC Director Dennis Jarvis II, “but in keeping with our mandate to support West Virginia initiatives and development, MSTC hopes to provide Extreme Endeavors a platform to tell its story to as many folks as possible and support this important innovation process.”

MSTC is a collaboration of the Community & Technical College at West Virginia University Institute of Technology; Marshall University Center for Environmental, Geotechnical and Applied Sciences; the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing; the West Virginia High Technology Consortium in Fairmont; the coal industry; and federal and state agencies.

MSTC addresses a recommendation in the report on the Sago disaster ordered by Gov. Joe Manchin III. The federal Economic Development Administration, recognizing a lack of investment in safety technology, awarded $2 million grant to Marshall’s CEGAS, secured with the help of U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall. The Manchin administration contributed $1 million and an additional $600,000 came from local private investors, including $100,000 from Arch Minerals and $200,000 from State Electric Supply Co. of Huntington; and $400,000 of in-kind matches from the project collaborators. The consortium has three objectives: enhance economic development in the region, develop the workforce for today and future for the U.S. mining industry and continuously improve miner safety and health. MSTC is the major long-time component of the parent project.

Contact:
Dennis Jarvis II, director
Mine Safety Technology Consortium
304.981.6221
Dennis.Jarvis@mail.wvu.edu

Michael Masterman, president
Extreme Endeavors and Consulting Inc.
304.457.2500
mfm@extreme-endeavors.com