This follows product testing at two independent evaluation facilities, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and TUV Rheinland Industrial Solutions.

Based on their tests, which evaluated the product’s weight-bearing capacity, Struxure has been approved for use in underground mining operations.

Axion shipped 12-inch pilings and 7x9 to 30-inch boards to a New York Stock Exchange-listed coal miner through Pennsylvania-based Williamstown Mining. Those products will be used in a field test for the use of Struxure as roof support in coal mining.

Williamstown Mining, a distributor to the coal mining industry in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, will also feature Struxure at the Longwall USA Exhibition and Conference in Pittsburgh.

“Axion’s Struxure products offer a solution for mining applications including roof support and cribbing,” Williamstown Mining vice president of operations Denny Welsh said.

“Purchase decisions in the mining industry are based on strength, weight, life cycle, safety and cost of products. Sustainable materials are viewed positively.”

Axion vice-president of building products Dave Crane said this was a trial order that the company believed would lead to more purchases from the coal industry.”

“The wet and acidic conditions in mines lead to deterioration of traditional wood, concrete and steel materials, whereas Struxures is impervious to those elements,” he said.