When a rockburst occurs, consequences can be of great importance both for the safety of the mineworkers and the extraction in progress. After the recent dramatic accident that occurred in Lassing, Austria (1998), where miners were deadly injured, the French national coal industry has initiated a project for the development of a system for the detection of trapped miners. We have been asked to develop a system based on the location of microseismic events generated by miners on the sidewalls of a gallery. A preliminary estimate of the quarters and galleries where the miners are expected to be trapped allows the installation of seismic sensors in a sensible place. The system is designed for a real time acquisition and processing of any microseismic event recorded in the rock mass. This paper presents the description of the experimental equipment and results of the preliminary test conducted in the French national coal mining company (Charbonnages de France) test site.
