The move comes as the simulator market, particularly in Australia, starts to become more crowded.

Immersive Technologies has released the PR03 simulator for surface equipment and the UG360 to cater for underground miners.

Underground mining is one sector the company, which has been at the forefront of mining simulation technology for more than a decade, has admitted it was weak in. The UG360 is its answer to that.

The next generation surface simulator moves on from the AES Series 2B, which has built the company's success in the mining sector over the past 10 years.

These machines are no simple upgrades. Immersive Technologies chief executive officer Peter Salfinger told MiningNews.net that both the PR03 and UG360 started from a blank sheet of paper.

He would not say exactly how much had been spent on their development other than "many, many, many millions of dollars - each"

Salfinger called the next generation simulators a "quantum leap" forward.

"Immersive is focused squarely on increasing the operator safety and profitability of our mining customers," he said.

The PR03 boasts a 180 degree visual display system with a feature that dynamically adjusts the perspective of the operator to provide a "real-world" view outside the cabin. It also increases the operator's level of depth perception.

An important benefit of the PR03 is its compatibility with the more than 500 existing Immersive Conversion Kits - the interchangeable machine controls - already in existence.

It also will work with existing scenarios, custom lessons and custom mine sites previously developed.

This will allow AES2 and AES 2B customers to move up to the PR03 without having to replace their existing conversion kits and supporting systems.

The UG360 has a 360 degree visual system designed for the unique needs of underground mining.

Immersive's original underground simulator prototype had the AES 2B three-screen display. The prototype was for a bogger and was based on a Caterpillar wheel loader simulator.

When MiningNews.net tried it out last year the display was relatively crude - it was a prototype after all. Sadly the sound of metal grinding on rock was all too real.

The UG360 is a great leap forward from that prototype. It has conversion kits for Caterpillar boggers and underground trucks.

Salfinger said Immersive was in discussion with other original equipment makers about simulating their underground equipment.

There are sales looming for the UG360 simulators too.

"We already have ‘beta' customers out there using it," Salfinger said.

He said underground was a sector the company had thought long and hard about entering.

"One thing we were conscious of was that we didn't want to go charging off into another market until we were sure we could deliver value," Salfinger said.

"Secondly, we also wanted to really understand what was needed to deliver a simulator to the underground market."

Both the PR03 and UG360 simulators come with updated motion platforms to better simulate the movement of mining equipment.

They also have been designed to make transport easier and to operate in hotter and colder climes than their predecessors. Occupant comfort has been catered for, as has ease of use and serviceability.

The simulator market has started to fill up, particularly in Australia, with South African players Thoroughtec and 5DT making sorties.

Software maker Datamine, recently bought by Canadian simulator specialist CAE, is looking at moving into the mining simulator market too.

Thoroughtec has had some success with its underground mining equipment simulators. It has a machine at Sandvik's Perth training centre and some at the Queensland-based Mining Industry Skills Centre.

Its compatriot 5DT has made a Wirtgen surface mining simulator for Fortescue Metals Group and also has machines with MISC.

The Datamine-CAE link is an interesting one. CAE makes the aircraft simulators that airline pilots train on. It also makes command and control centres for military customers.

Next month Atlas Copco will be launching its Master Driller concept that also involves some simulator training. It will be bringing in drilling rig simulators made by Swedish company Oryx Simulation.

Salfinger did not seem too perturbed about the competition entering the market pointing out that both Thoroughtec and 5DT had been around for some time.

He does, however, find the CAE move interesting.

"That would be like us going to play in the flight simulator market," he said.