The exclusive supply and reseller agreement is worth $US1.6 million, ACT said Wednesday, which will be prepaid in exchange for "certain exclusive rights" to the third generation nodes that include MeshDynamics' Wi-Fi technology.

“The rights include the right to exclusively sell the nodes to certain specified companies, including coal mines, non-coal mines and coal suppliers that are potential customers for the ActiveMine system and further guarantee ACT a supply of a minimum of 1000 nodes," officials for ACT said.

“ACT has the option to acquire up to 2000 additional nodes upon further payments [and] will outsource the manufacturing of the nodes directly using the MeshDynamics technology."

The deal will result in cost savings by ACT for each node, the supplier said, and will also secure its access to the node technology over the course of the companies' two-year agreement. On average, 40 nodes are required for each underground coal mine using the ActiveMine system.

“We are very pleased with our partnership with MeshDynamics and we are grateful for all of their support," said ACT president Steve Barrett.

“We also anticipate that ActiveMine's superior tracking, voice, video and data transmission capabilities will continue to garner sales in the USA and internationally.

“Solidifying our relationship with MeshDynamics will ensure continuity of supply for this key component of the ActiveMine system."

The company is also expanding its horizons with plans to convert its international patent for components of ActiveMine to encompass applications in China, Canada, South Africa and Australia.

“ACT already has such a patent application before the US patent office and ACT may elect to pursue other national patent applications at a later date," Barrett said.

While still pending, the national patent applications will cite some of the company's initial findings by the international patent office regarding the potential patent acquisition for parts of ActiveMine.