The team is in the final stages of licensing Gemini-Scout to a commercial robotics company, but for now, the MineSafetyandHealthAdministration will be the primary customer.
The mine was shut down by the U.S. MineSafetyandHealthAdministration due to the unsafe buildup of sand and concrete material in the main shaft of the mine.
No production from the mine is expected this year after the federal MineSafetyandHealthAdministration ordered the Silver Shaft to be closed for removal of built-up sand and concrete material.
The temporary closure of the Silver Shaft at the Lucky Friday mine was ordered last year by the federal MineSafetyandHealthAdministration for removal of built-up sand and concrete material.
Massey Energy for failing to report more than 20 accidents at its Upper Big Branch coal mine in the two years before an April explosion killed 29 miners there, according to documents released by the MineSafetyandHealthAdministration on Tuesday.
Earlier Wednesday, a fifth hole drilled down into the mine found just six inches of open space left between the roof and rubble in an 8-foot-high tunnel, said Jack Kuzar, a district manager with the federal MineSafetyandHealthAdministration.