CHARLESTON, W.Va. — New mining trends as well as the latest technologies took center stage at a statewide convention Tuesday in downtown Charleston.
Officials from across the region and beyond, along with industry experts gathered for the West Virginia Coal Association’s 49th annual West Virginia Mining Symposium.
A number of featured speakers were expected to attend the event, including Governor Jim Justice, Attorney General Patrick Morriesy, State Senator Randy Smith among others.
In addition to the lectures, several mining companies set up booths at the convention, demonstrating the latest innovations they have to offer.
Matrix Design Group, a mining safety and productivity company was there displaying some of its newest technology with the focus on keeping miners safe.
One of those new pieces of mining safety equipment the company had on display was the Omni Pro Collision Avoidance System, which Sales Manager for Matrix, Chris Adkins said was just that– a device used to detect collisions on the surface and underground so miners can safely avoid them.
“It’s just trying to catch those blind spots so when an operator is moving large pieces of equipment around, we can see what they can’t, and we’ll alert the operator to stop and go out and check so they don’t have any collisions,” said Adkins.
Another piece of technology they had on display was called the M5 System, or an underground methane detection system.
Adkins says it’s water and drift resistant technology used to alert the crew when the gas reaches dangerous levels.
“Obviously, gas detection is extremely important to keep our miners safe, so this goes on a continuous miner, and when they’re mining coal this will detect any rise in methane,” Adkins said.
Along with technology demonstrations, some of the companies were simply there to recruit new miners into the industry. Blackhawk Mining, LLC was one of those companies in the recruitment process, and VP of Human Resources for Blackhawk, Colin Milam says finding more workers is a great need they are trying to address.
“Right now in the industry there aren’t enough qualified individuals to come to work for us, we’re trying to find as many as we can and we’re taking a concerted effort to train a bunch of new ones,” said Milam.
Milam said the company has trained over 500 new miners over the last two years. He also said the mining industry is currently booming and now is an ideal time to consider entering it.
“The mining industry has been very good to the state as far as the things we do, you know, the rates of pay are significantly higher than the average industry in West Virginia,” Milam said.
Milam added that along with the good pay, the safety records and standards have also significantly improved.
The symposium was expected to take place for two days at the Embassy Suites in Charleston, April 18-19. Safety and environmental awards were going to be presented at noon on both days.