AmerCable

AmerCable manufactures jacketed electrical power, control and instrumentation cables at ISO 9001:2015-certified facilities in El Dorado, Arkansas and Katy, Texas. Its core markets are mining, oil and gas, and industrial, applications the company describes as requiring complex designs that operate reliably over long periods in harsh environments. The business traces its history to 1899 and the American Steel & Wire Company, sold wire rope and mining cable under the Tiger Brand name from 1923, and moved manufacturing to El Dorado in the mid-1970s. On January 2, 2025, AmerCable was acquired by Mattr, a publicly held company listed on the TSX.

GEXOL insulation

GEXOL is the proprietary insulating compound behind most of the company's energy cable lines. General Electric Wire & Cable formulated it in the 1950s for diesel-electric locomotives, to withstand high (125°F) and low (-40°C) temperatures, resist oils and chemicals, and stay flexible during motor servicing. Union Carbide acquired the rights when GE closed its cable plants, licensed production to AmerCable in 1987, and sold the patents and formulas outright in the early 1990s.

Later formulations include:

• Fire-resistant
• Halogen-free
• Drilling mud resistant
• Crush and Impact Resistant (CIR), without external armoring
• Flexible VFD
• Extreme cold

Oil and gas cables

AmerCable has supplied the offshore industry since the 1970s. Upstream offshore products cover GEXOL Type P power, control and instrumentation cable built to IEEE 1580, low smoke halogen-free (LSHF) constructions, CIR, offshore VFD, Marine Medium Voltage (MMV) and GexSIS-125 switchboard wire. Land-based lines cover Type P, fracking, downstream and industrial VFD cable plus MV-105 medium voltage power cable.

The company states it was the first manufacturer to introduce LSHF cables into the Gulf of Mexico region. LSHF is offered in power (1/C to 5/C), multi-conductor control, instrumentation with individually shielded pairs and triads, VFD (3/C, 2kV) and public address / general alarm constructions.

VFD cables are engineered for 100% containment of EMI emissions, using symmetrical insulated ground conductors, high strand count conductors and a braid shield design. They come in four constructions: standard GEXOL, LSHF, CIR and MMV. Type MMV marine medium voltage cable is intended for commercial ships, mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs) and fixed or floating offshore facilities, and uses flexible stranded conductors and braided shields.

CIR crush and impact resistant cable

CIR is rated TC-ER-HL under UL 2225 and designed to replace older Type MC cable without external armoring. The company reports use globally since 2002 on mission-critical equipment. It is gas and vapor tight, exceeds CSA cold bend and cold impact requirements at -40°C and -35°C, and carries an ASTM D 746-07 brittlepoint beyond -65°C for the jacket and -75°C for the insulation.

AmerCable compares CIR with Type MC:

A CIR-2 version is positioned for downstream and midstream facilities, well pads and land drilling operations.

Mining, industrial and systems work

Tiger Brand mining cables cover surface, underground, infrastructure and tunneling applications, supported by cable assemblies, MineCable-Safe safety training and distributors in Canada and China. Other lines run to:

• Data center power distribution
• Automotive
• DLO and G-GC portable power cable
• Dredging, reeling and ship-to-shore
• Telecom, Tiger-Flex hoist cable and Type SH
• Electro-optical cable and offshore wind electrical distribution

The AmerCable Systems group handles engineered connectivity: cable assemblies, enclosures, top drive service loops, offshore bridle and over-water umbilical systems, and land fracking operations, and offers field services.