Consol Energy and officials from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) have demonstrated a new mine rescue communications system at Consol’s Harvey mine. The demonstration involved using a new above-ground command centre to co-ordinate with rescue teams below the surface. Volunteer rescue teams from Consol and the MSHA transmitted crucial information through a two-way radio back to the surface, with Consol officials and a state Special Medical Response Team doctor sending back directions.

Additionally, the centre tracks the locations of rescue teams in real-time, with sensory equipment also monitoring potentially hazardous levels of gases.

John Urosek, Federal Chief of mine emergency operations described the new technology as “like going from no cell phone at all to an iPhone 6.”

This is a game-changer,” said Assistant Secretary of Labour for Mine Safety and Health Joe Main.

Having better information will allow rescuers to make better decisions in emergencies, officials said.

Main said the need for such a system was illustrated by the 2006 Sago mine disaster in West Virginia. He said that given the complexities of transmitting signals from underground, and in environments where spark could touch off an explosion, the system is one of a kind. But the administration is looking to equip rescue stations elsewhere in the country with the system.

A spokesperson for Alpha Natural Resources, which partnered with federal authorities to test the technology at two mines in West Viriginia, said it is anticipating further tests and implementing the system in mine rescue training.

In the future, the safety teams are looking to introduce cameras to feed live images from the mine, in addition to improved seismic devices and more robotic solutions, including drones.

Joseph Sbaffoni, Director of the state Bureau of Mine Safety, said that whilst mining is “dangerous, [it] doesn’t have to be unsafe.”