The following are the responses received from refuge chamber manufacturers regarding the issue of the service duration of their products:
Several news articles have been observed in which mining operators (National Mining Associated) have criticized West Virginia regulators for not requiring man-tests for refuge chambers.
My questions are these:
- What evidence, such as man-tests, exists to support the claim that your chambers can sustain the miners for the required time period?
- If no test results exist, how did you arrive at the amount of oxygen and other elements that make up your products?
Even though no tests have been required in the West Virginia regs, it would seem to me that your stock would go up substantially if you would carry this out voluntarily.
There is currently a discussion on this subject at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MineRescue/. Membership in the group is free, but you have to join to post messages.
Thank you,
Rob McGee
From RANA MINING:
Dear Rob,
I received your e mail. We invented the breathable air unit for underground refuge chambers back in the early 1990's - it is called the Refuge One Air Centre.
At that time we did actual underground testing on 2 occasions with our Refuge One Air Centre. I will attach copies of those tests. We also have built a mobile refuge chamber which we call 'The Tommyknocker'.
We have done 3 tests on the air in that chamber with 8-10 people in the chamber for periods of 3-4 hours (we could have gone longer but our experience is that the results are fairly evident in that period of time).
We measure O2, CO2 and CO, temperature and humidity.
We don't sell our Refuge One's in the USA because of the very high cost of liability insurance. There is a company in Utah who does use our technology who will sell these in the US - they are Modern Mine Safety Supply.
I have sent them a copy of this email. If you have any questions, please give me a call.
Thanks,
Lyall Gardiner
RANA Mining
Attachments:
From MineArc Systems America LLC:
Rob,
MineARC have been developing refuge chambers for the Metal/Non Metal industry since 1995. Our patented hard rock refuge chambers have been developed and refined over the last 12 years with the input of major mining companies’ world wide. Our research and development program is integral to us maintaining our position as the worlds leading selling refuge chamber.
The development of our hard rock unit has included computational and real life testing. It was during the testing process that MineARC discovered the requirement for the removal of endogenously produced carbon monoxide from the chamber. This is a patented process of MineARC Systems Refuge Chambers. Additionally, our chambers have been used in real life emergencies resulting in no losses.
MineARC are currently developing a coal refuge chamber for the US. In doing this our calculations show that cooling for metabolic heat build up is essential. This creates additional design challenges as an electrical powered system is necessary for optimal cooling. As a result we have currently not sought approval for the state of West Virginia. However, latest research and development at MineARC Systems could potentially yield a powerless refuge chamber with cooling capacity specifically for the West Virginia market. Latest third party assessment already supports the feasibility of this unique design but man test will be required before commercialization.
Please see our website at www.minearc.com for information on the development of our coal chamber and currently available hard rock mining unit. Please feel free to call with any further questions.
Thanks,
James Rau
Facility Manager
MineARC Systems America LLC
4730 Bronze Way, Dallas TX 75236 -1902
www.minearc.com
Phone (214) 337 5100 | Facsimile (214) 337 5103 | email info@minearc.com
From ChemBio Shelter, Inc.:
Rob,
My name is Ed Roscioli with ChemBio Shelter, Inc. We have designed
an inflatable shelter with our partner A. L. Lee Corp. Please update
your information to include A. L. Lee Corp.
I didn't get any request for information from you. Please tell me
what email address you sent it to so I can make sure there is nothing
wrong with our email system.
As far as testing, we have tested our shelter overnight several
nights and I have stayed in the shelter overnight.
I had no problem maintaining the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.
The first time I stayed in the shelter, it got a bit humid but the
temperature was fine.
The next time I went in, I used a dessicant and was able to keep the
humidity between 75 and 80%. Still humid, but I live in PA and the
outside humidity gets higher than that in the summer.
We were in the process of planning a 96 hour manned shelter test in
an actual operating mine. The people we had organized this test with
at the mine operating company decided it would take a long time to
get their corporate and legal departments to approve such a test.
We then started planning to do this test in our facility but decided
it would not be viewed as a valid test since we are the manufacturer.
Then we heard that NIOSH will be inviting us to do a manned test at a
facility near Pittsburgh, PA. We welcome the opportunity to have our
shelter tested by NIOSH and feel this will make a lot of people feel
more confident about the use of shelters. We are confident it will
pass the test.
Now I hear that NIOSH is still deciding on whether the test will be
manned. If NIOSH doesn't do this test, we will plan to do it in our
facility but it would be more credible if it were done by NIOSH at a
NIOSH facility.
Web site: www.ChemBioShelter.com
From Modern Mine Safety Supply:
Attention Mr. Rob McGee
Mr. McGee
I am Randy Tatton. I work with Lynn Sitterud and Modern Mine Safety Supply LLC on the development and manufacture of its underground coal mine refuge chamber. This E-Mail is in response to your April 26, 2007 correspondence posted on the Mining Health and Safety Solutions Contact Us Website Link.
We appreciate your interest and concern with respect to our mine refuge chamber. The questions you have posed are good ones and I will do my best now to answer them for you. Some of your questions have been addressed already by Lyall Gardner of RANA Medical, the inventor and manufacturer of the powered-carbon dioxide scrubber we utilize in our refuge chamber. Mr. Gardner has also forwarded to you the results of testing that has been conducted on this product.
The answers to you questions are as follows:
- What evidence, such as man tests, exists to support the claim that you chambers can sustain the miners for the required time period?
The information that you have received from Lyall Gardner documents the testing that has been done on the carbon dioxide scrubbing unit. To ensure that the battery pack that powers the scrubber will last a minimum of 96 hours we have secured a dry cell battery that has a 210 amp hour life. We project to only use 80% of that battery capacity which is 168 amp hours. The blower we use to power the scrubber operates at approximately 1.6 amps. At that rate the blower will operate approximately 105 hours continuously. Sufficient amounts of oxygen soda lime, food and water to last for a minimum of 96 hours are stored in the chamber for the number of occupants. When we receive final MSHA approval of our permissible blower system, we will run physical tests to ensure that our battery pack will operate that system for a minimum of 96 hours.
- If not test results exist, how did you arrive at the amount of oxygen and other elements that make up your products.
As stated earlier, tests of our product have been conducted and the powered carbon dioxide has been used successfully in Canada for a number of years. The amounts of oxygen required by each person and the amount of soda lime to scrub our carbon dioxide exhaled by an individual human are well known and publicized. Those values can be found in many resources and also in MSHA’s most recent PIB in the additional information supplied on the website.
- Even though no tests have been required in the West Virginia regs, it would seem to me that your stock would go up substantially if you would carry this out voluntarily.
We have been in process of conducting our own testing or making plans to do additional testing of our unit. Approximately three weeks ago NIOSH volunteered to test all mine refuge chambers that have been approved in the State of West Virginia. We contacted NOISH on the following day and volunteered our product for the tests and have been told that we are first in line for such testing. It would be our choice to have NIOSH, as an honest broker, do the necessary testing on our chamber, rather than doing the testing ourselves. In any case we plan to conduct necessary testing of our Modern Mine Safety Supply Refuge Chamber prior to it being placed into the mines.
Regards,
Randy Tatton, CMSP
President
Mining Health and Safety Solutions
PO Box 95053
South Jordan , Utah
Business Phone: 801-253-9279
Cellular: 801-673-1400
E-Mail: randy@mininghealthandsfety.com
Website: www.mininghealthandsafety.com
Brochure: http://www.mininghealthandsafety.com/files/page_text/Brochure.pdf
From North Fringe Resources Inc.:
Hi Rob,
Good to hear from you. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I have
been in out of the office for two weeks in Eastern Canada with our Portable
Refuge Stations.
We have done lots of testing on our units that has determined that our units are
safe and reliable. We also worked and are working with the NRC (National Research Council)
here in Canada for Research and Development.
We are in the process of conducting Research and Development for a unit that can be
used in the US for Coal Mining Applications. We have conducted a 40 hour man
test that proved that the temperature, humidity and CO2 levels were controlled
along with other data; this data is available for review.
Our structure has also been fire tested by an outside testing contractor and there is data available on the fire
resistance of our structure. This fire resistant structure that we
manufacture is been incorporated into the research and development we are
conducting for our Coal Mine Portable Refuge Stations and will be altered
for the tight size restrictions in the coal mines. Our Portable Refuge
Stations are patent pending.
Please contact me with any questions or comments.
Best Regards
Brett Cain
President
North Fringe Resources Inc.
P: 1-306-862-5900
C: 1-306-862-6566
F: 1-306-862-5752
northfringe@sasktel.net
northfringe@sasktel.net
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