The Ohio company noted that the new release, unveiled this week at SME’s (Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration) annual conference in Denver, Colorado, will also eliminate the need for some materials in belts that generate toxic smoke.

“Goodyear Shield rubber conveyor-belt compounds will be in compliance with MSHA’s recent 30 CFR Part 14 ruling, and address other issues raised in it,” said Veyance Technologies conveyor belts marketing manager Dave Tersigni.

He said safety was the impetus for the development of the product.

The new standard for belts developed by MSHA – the Belt Evaluation Laboratory Test, BELT – requires a greater flame-resistance level as well as a reduced ability to spread flames when compared to a traditional belt.

The agency is looking at future regulatory actions for smoke density and toxicity, which it acknowledges can affect a worker’s ability to react to fire hazards.

Goodyear workers on parallel development plans to meet the new standards, Tersigni said, while also developing rubber compounds to eliminate the need for halogenated materials such as chlorine and bromine.

He noted that all the other performance characteristics, including abrasion resistance, were maintained.

“Safety is paramount, so our engineers successfully developed Shield to beat new BELT standards and include low-smoke density and toxicity characteristics.”

While the new regulations will likely change cost structure for belts and impact operators due to higher price points, officials for Goodyear said Shield will be priced competitively.

“We’ve invested $US1.2 million in test devices to validate Shield’s performance, including sophisticated equipment to measure smoke density and toxicity and we’ve conducted year-long field performance trials at active mines in a wide range of harsh operating conditions.”

The new compound will be available for Veyance’s three tiers of fabric-reinforced underground belts, including Goodyear CoalQuest, Glide Plus and Contender.

Under MSHA’s final rule, operators must install new BELT-compliant products beginning December 31 of this year, and must replace all beltline in the next decade.

Veyance is an exclusive producer of Goodyear-engineered products.