While the company would not disclose the identity of the two mines, ACT president Steve Barrett told International Longwall News the demos were done last week over two days at West Virginia operations where ActiveMine had been in use over the last several months.

The evaluations were to support sales discussions with the two producers, which together own more than 25 coal mines in Appalachia, Illinois and Indiana.

“The feedback from both the miners who use ActiveMine and the mine managers has been very positive,” Barrett said.

“They are particularly impressed with the voice quality, which surpasses their expectations and has become a key tool for them to drive productivity gains by better deploying people and equipment.”

He also noted the mines where the demos were conducted will be upgraded with the new ActiveMine nodes that were recently approved by federal regulators.

“Customers tell us it’s all about achieving high-quality voice communications – which are the initial driver of productivity gains,” he said.

“The positive feedback we are receiving, both from current customers and prospects, gives us great confidence that ActiveMine is the best communications and tracking solution for the coal mining industry today.”

All underground coal mine operators in the US must have specific provisions for wireless two-way communications and electronic tracking of miners as part of amended mine safety plans, per the MINER Act, before June 15 of this year.

Earlier this week, ACT launched its ActiveVision network operations service for mining operations using the ActiveMine system.

Featuring support and monitoring on a 24/7 basis by the company’s staff, Barrett said the new release will add the ability to provide diagnostics and troubleshooting to mines in real time while tracking and storing operational statistics.

The ActiveMine system received US federal approval in early February. It has had state approval in West Virginia since June 2007.

Federal approval of the Wi-Fi telephone component of the system was still pending, with the company expecting to receive it in the near future.