In 2009 we were contacted to provide a radiocommunications solution in Escobal project, located in San Rafael Las Flores, Santa Rosa, in Guatemala´s southwest region, approximately 40 kilometers away from Guatemala City. During the design phase we realized that the project explores a silver, gold, lead and zinc vein, and we then knew that the project would require high-end Motorola Solutions equipment that would put up with a humid and dust filled environment.

A Beetrex Rural Industry Solution with 8 channels was designed with coverage in the whole project´s surface. Before the underground perforation, the primary contractor, who was in charge of developing the processing plant, also required two-way radio communications for his work teams and another 34 sub-contractors, all of them working simultaneously but with independent communications managed by our technical department so each radio would be identified by the administrator using caller ID.

When the processing plant was built, the project began underground perforation and installed a underground communications system. In several occasions, we have provided technical assistance, audits and, counsel to correct functionality errors complying with the client’s quality and industrial safety standards and our short time response and technical assistance availability promise, which has been another differentiator from our competitors in the radiocommunications market for over 30 years.

We identified that miners had issues regarding how uncomfortable wearing the cap lamp was, how long the battery lasted and quality in general, so we suggested to replace these lamps with Northern Light Technologies Polaris mining cap lamp, a LED 3,500 LUX, MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration, an agency of the United States Department of Labor) approved, IP67 with rechargeable Li-Ion battery mining cap lamp.

In the project´s underground development, refuges were established in strategic and regulatory locations to be used in case of emergency or due to changes on the underground normed environmental conditions. We have provided Strata Worldwide components to said refuges, a company that manufactures underground safety solutions for miners around the world. As a part of the same solution to solve contingencies and, by Industrial Safety standards, a wired intercommunication network was designed to cover every corner of the project´s underground tunnels. The wired intercommunication network serves as a backup communication system used for emergencies and MSHA Standards.

During the project´s execution, our client required to monitor millimetric movement of rocks to guarantee safety and integrity of the support structures built inside the underground tunnel. We have executed an intermediary role between our client and Yieldpoint Incorporated, a canadian company that provides technology solutions used to make these measurements.