Huesker is celebrating two milestone anniversaries in 2011. The Germany-based Huesker Synthetic marks 150 years of progressive materials manufacturing and the Charlotte, North Carolina-based centre for the company’s North American operations, Huesker, Inc. celebrates its 20^th anniversary as a distributor and producer of geosynthetics for construction, civil engineering, mining and other major industries.Since 1994, Huesker, Inc. has drawn on that long history of innovation to provide geogrids for use as longwall recovery screens, rib support, and highwall protection. Since its beginning, the company has helped longwall mines safely and successfully move their longwalls, saving countless hours and protecting miners around the world. Having built nearly 900 longwall recovery screens in that time, Huesker and its partners have continued to listen to miners’ suggestions, and have evolved Minegrid^® to the point where it is widely acknowledged to be the miners’ best option when supporting mine roof, ribs, and highwalls, the company says.

It “has established a reputation for innovation and providing solutions for all types of mines. During the 1990s, Minegrid was used to build longwall recovery mats for mines throughout the US and was the first polyester geogrid used in Australia, establishing itself as the standard for longwall relocation on two continents. Since that time, Minegrid has been used on a total of five continents. The quest for innovation has led to the developing and patenting of Minegrid with built-in strength bands, patented assembly and installation methods, and the first ever grid designed to be dispensed from roofbolting machines. Work continues to perfect the use of Minegrid on continuous miners.”

To combat the problem of persistent water in mines, the Huesker dewatering system is used to consolidate sediments and mine tailings. The dewatering system makes pumping and handling of mine water easier.  Where necessary, Huesker’s FilterMat^TM carbon entrained geocomposites can help manage contaminated waters prior to their disposal.  In addition, when soil reinforcement is required for vegetated retaining walls and steep slopes, Fortrac^® geogrids and Comtrac^® geotextiles provide cost effective solutions while Fornit^® biaxial geogrids are ideal for haul roads and aggregate base reinforcement.