Weir Minerals Linatex recently released two new products and a new product enhancement. New Linatex preformed hose bends are intended as a replacement for hard-walled pipe bends in slurry transfer pipelines and are claimed to provide significant wear life improvement over standard metal pipe, particularly when abrasion wear and vibration are issues. The premium Linatex tube provides high wear resistance in a rubber compound for wet slurry applications, absorbing the energy from moving slurry and returning to its original form while dampening vibrations.

Optical Cable Corp.’s MSHA-certified tightbuffered breakout cable is designed to extend high speed communications deep underground, while withstanding thermal extremes, physical hazards and even falling debris in mining operations. This extremely ruggedized fiber optic cable enables mining personnel to access a corporate network and even its ERP system from thousands of feet below ground for critical tasks such as real-time maintenance tracking, ordering parts, review of electronic files or schematics, access to monitoring data and more.

Immersive Technologies has announced a new release of its dozer operator training technology for use with Immersive’s Advanced Equipment Simulators, including the PRO3. This release, according to the company, includes extensive new training functionality and support for Caterpillar’s D11T track dozer.

Featuring patented GreenHeat Technology, the Powerblanket Multi-Duty heating blanket uniformly distributes an insulated barrier of heat while consuming low levels of energy. It provides an environmentally friendly solution for protecting construction materials and machinery from freezing, curing concrete and thawing frozen ground.

Cat says its upgraded D9T bulldozer offers enhanced operator safety, comfort and convenience, refined performance and increased productivity. The 110,000-lb (49 900-kg) operating-weight dozer is powered by a Cat C18 ACERT engine rated at 410 net hp (306 kW). For improved comfort and efficiency, a low-effort electronic dozer control handle gives the operator control of all dozer functions with one hand.