The Sago mine disaster in January 2006 highlighted the need for true through-the-earth communications to improve safety for all underground coal miners. Technology to achieve this capability had been pursued for decades with little success. Existing radio-based and leaky feeder communications systems, along with power supplies, are vulnerable to failure resulting from a roof fall, explosion or cave-in. Until now, no system existed that could operate in the absence of the usual mine infrastructure to address this very real need.
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