What to know
The Mining Program supports both technology research and capacity-building contracts to address the priorities in its strategic plan. Technology research contracts develop and adapt new mine safety technology and expedite its commercial availability. Capacity-building contracts support graduates pursuing advanced degrees in mining and minerals engineering as well as tenure-track faculty performing related research.
Background
Under the MINER Act of 2006, the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) develops and adapts new mine safety technology and expedites its commercial availability through a contracts and grants program. OMSHR identifies priority areas based on the current technology gaps and implements a strategic approach to addressing these gaps, including the necessary financial investments, compliance with regulatory requirements, assistance available from other government agencies, and incentives necessary for the private sector to begin commercializing the technology. As a result of these efforts, OMSHR has awarded more than 120 technology development and commercialization contracts or interagency agreements in its execution of the MINER Act. Candidates for these contracts are principally solicited in the form of concept papers by way of Broad Agency Announcements on the NIOSH Mining website.
OMSHR has also awarded more than a dozen capacity-building contracts, which are devoted to building the capacity of our nation's workforce to address critical health and safety problems in U.S. mines—specifically, in the fields of ventilation and ground control, which were identified as root causes for five different mining disasters since 2006. Capacity-building contracts help to produce graduates with advanced degrees in mining and minerals engineering, and they help to develop tenure-track faculty performing research in these areas. As a result of these efforts, OSHMR has supported more than 130 graduate students and more than 60 MS or PhD graduating degree holders since the program's inception in 2009.
Active technology research contracts
Adaptation of Wearable Respirable Dust Monitor Prototypes for use in Underground Coal Mines
Contractor: University of Illinois
Objective: to research wearable respirable dust monitor prototypes and develop prototypes that are rugged and designed to operate for extended periods in underground mining operations.
Advancing the Understanding of Respirable Silica Occurrence in Coal Mines
Contractor: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
Objective: to explore disease pathology and help pinpoint causal respirable silica dust characteristics, given that conventional monitoring does not yield sufficient understanding of health risks related to respirable silica.
Automation Experience with a Global Perspective - An Assessment of the Automation Impact on Worker Safety and Health
Contractor: University of Pittsburgh
Objective: to determine and describe the global experience with automation in mining and assess its effect on worker safety and health.
AutonoDES: A Discrete Event Simulation Platform for Safety Scrutiny of Autonomous Mining Systems
Contractor: University of Nevada, Reno
Objective: to develop a simulation software platform, AutonoDES, that can be used as a “what-if” scenario analysis tool for mixed-fleet (both human-operated and autonomous) mining operations.
Cap Lamp Particulate Monitoring System
Contractor: Strata Safety Products, LLC
Objective: to examine a cap lamp particulate monitoring system with the aim of device integration that can detect and provide an alert of exposures to silica while also recording where the miner is located underground when exposed.
Characterization of Forms of Silica with Varying Degrees of Crystallinity in Respirable Dust to Assess their Effects on Miners' Pneumoconiosis
Contractor: Penn State University
Objective: to evaluate different forms of silica embedded in the mine-emitted dusts and how they are related to their host rocks’ mineralogical and geological features.
Characterization of Submicron-/Nano-scale Coal Dusts and Their Effects on Miners' Pneumoconiosis and Lung Cancer for Underground Coal Mines
Contractor: Penn State University
Objective: to investigate the characterization of submicron-/nano-scale coal dusts and their effects on miners’ pneumoconiosis and lung cancer for underground coal mines.
Development of a Personal Real-Time Respirable Coal Dust and Respirable Silica Dust Monitoring Instrument Based on Photoacoustic Spectroscopy
Contractor: University of Nevada, Reno
Objective: to develop a personal real-time respirable coal dust and respirable silica dust monitoring instrument based on photoacoustic spectroscopy, which would aid workers in evaluating their current exposure and help in determining what controls or adjustments could mitigate these exposures.
Development of a Silica Dust Direct Reading Sampler with Sensitivity for Dust Components and Size
Contractor: Colorado State University
Objective: to develop a proof-of-concept for a silica dust reading sampler using a novel approach that provides real-time indications to mine workers when their exposure to respirable coal and silica dust potentially exceeds safe levels.
Development of Automated Rockfall Detection via Thermal Video Cameras in Open Pit Mines
Contractor: University of Arizona Geotechnical Center of Excellence
Objective: to develop an automated rockfall recognition algorithm and empirical approaches for rockfall forecasting and slope hazard recognition based on rockfall frequency and location.
Development of Rib Brow Guideline and Integration into the Coal Pillar Rib Rating System
Contractor: Missouri University of Science and Technology
Objective: to enhance the safety of miners through new rib brow management strategies, with the ultimate goal being to develop a set of intuitive, user-friendly charts and tables that mining engineers and operators can use to estimate the stability of the coal rib brows found in their specific mining conditions.
Eliminating Barriers for the Implementation of Automation in the Mining Industry
Contractor: Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration
Objective: to provide a comprehensive review and analysis of the regulatory framework and external factors influencing mine/plant development and operations to encourage the rapid integration of new technology into U.S. mining operations.
Exoskeletons as an Innovative Approach to Prevent Musculoskeletal Disorders in Surface Stone Mining
Contractor: Virginia Tech University
Objective: to research exoskeletons as an innovative approach to prevent musculoskeletal disorders in surface stone mining.
Filter Media and Holder Compatible with Personal Dust Monitor and End-of-Shift Crystalline Silica Quantification by Raman and FTIR Spectroscopy
Contractor: Desert Research Institute
Objective: to find alternative filter media and redesign the filter holder for the continuous personal dust monitor to make the filter compatible with end-of-shift respirable crystalline silica quantification.
Improved Longwall Automation by Utilizing Sensors to Detect the Rock Coal Interface
Contractor: Komatsu's Joy Global Underground Mining
Objective: to investigate a technology or combination of technologies that will improve the ability to understand the location of the rock-coal interface on a longwall face.
Investigation of Respirable Mine Dust and Crystalline Silica Dust Characteristics and Toxicity in Metal/Nonmetal Mines
Contractor: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Objective: to investigate mine dust and respirable crystalline silica characteristics and toxicity to fill a critical knowledge gap and help ensure the health of workers in metal and nonmetal mines.
Machine Learning Enhanced Perception for Automated or Remote Roof Bolting Operations in Underground Mining
Contractor: Colorado School of Mines
Objective: to investigate machine learning technology that could enable augmented and virtual reality for remote operation of mining equipment in such environments and provide a potential path for a mine of the future in which only machines go underground.
Mine Health and Safety Big Data Analysis and Text Mining by Machine Learning Algorithms
Contractor: Michigan Tech
Objective: to use big data analysis to extract possible leading indicator variables and health and safety risks from Mine Safety and Health Administration databases, to develop machine learning models to uncover the most influential leading indicators for risks to miners, and to develop a related software assessment tool.
Mine Hearing and Communication Safety System Triton Systems
Contractor: Triton Systems
Objective: to develop a new product—“MineEar”—which would offer superior awareness, communication, and hearing protection through noise attenuation, occlusion effect reduction technology, and advanced noise reduction.
Mine Safety Data Analytics Engine
Contractor: Innovative Wireless Technologies, Inc.,
Objective: to address work-related musculoskeletal disorders risk reduction using the recent innovative intervention of occupational exoskeletons.
PDM3700-Compatible Filter Module Usable with Portable/Field-deployable Silica Monitoring Instruments
Contactor: Thermo Fisher Scientific
Objective: to develop a filter module that can be used with the PDM3700, maintaining its functionality of aerosol collection and mass measurement, and to develop portable FTIRs that can be used for field-deployable silica monitoring.
Real-Time Ground Movement Monitoring for Improved Safety Near Large Excavations Using Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing
Contractor: Missouri University of Science & Technology
Objective: to investigate real-time ground movement monitoring for improved safety near large excavations using distributed fiber optic sensing.
Size-dependent Metric Analysis of Respirable Coal Mine Dust
Contractor: Michigan Technological University
Objective: to provide metric analysis of dust particles collected by continuous personal dust monitor devices, which will result in useful information on dust compositions at various underground coal mines.
Underground Mine Evacuation Technologies and Human Factors Research
Contractor: University of Missouri
Objective: to advance knowledge and frontiers in mine emergency evacuations and provide the basis for technology interventions that ensure safe miner self-escape as envisaged by the 2006 MINER Act.
Active capacity-building contracts
Capacity Building in Artificially Intelligent Mining Systems (AIMS) for Safer and Healthier Automated Operations
Contractor: University of Nevada, Reno
Objective: to better understand artificially intelligent mining systems for safer and healthier automated operations.
Collaborative Safe Integrated Engineering in Mining
Contractor: South Dakota School of Mines
Objective: to investigate collaborative safe integrated engineering in mining, with the goals of improved underground production scheduling and operations scheduling in relation to ventilation.
Digital Technologies Improve Mine Safety and Health
Contractor: Colorado School of Mines
Objective: to research digital technologies to improve mine safety and health, including effective real-time sensor arrangement, air flow and quality simulation through computational fluid dynamics modeling, and digital feedback that could help warn of fire and explosion hazards.
Improving Health and Safety of Mining Operations Through Development of the Smart Bit Concept for Automation of Mechanical Rock Excavation Units and Dust Mitigation
Contractor: Colorado School of Mines
Objective: to improve the health and safety of mining operations through development of the "smart bit" concept for automation of mechanical rock excavation units and dust mitigation.
Respirable Coal Mine Dust Research: Characterization, Deposition, Monitoring, and Mitigation of Respirable Coal Mine Dust and Capacity Building for Mine Health and Safety
Contractor: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Objective: To advance the understanding of dust control through the study of the surface chemistry of respirable coal mine dust and its interaction with water droplets and potential methods to enhance the capturing efficiency, and to investigate the deposition of agglomerated particles in the human lung.
Respirable Coal Mine Dust: Mineral Content Sources, Monitoring and Control, and Building Capacity to Protect Miner Health
Contractor: Virginia Tech University
Objective: to better control and monitor mineral content in respirable coal mine dust by advancing the understanding of the mining and geological conditions that influence contribution of mineral content, especially strata-sourced minerals such as silicates and silica, to respirable coal mine dust.
Understanding and Design of Ventilation Systems and Their Optimization for Large-Opening Underground Mines
Contractor: Penn State University
Objective: to investigate the understanding and design of ventilation systems and their optimization for large-opening underground mines.