mine safety News

Mining Jobs to Focus on Community Relations as Robots and Sensors Take Over

Some mines in the next decade will run without humans and instead rely on robots, virtual models and sensors, according to Anglo American Plc. Anglo is betting on technology, such as computerized drills with “chiseling ability as good as a …

Where Trump’s Regulatory Rollback Is Having Impact

When disaster hits the chemical plants in Port Arthur, Texas, triggering fires like those that flared in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Hilton Kelley is the man fielding panicked calls from neighbors unsure whether they should evacuate their homes. Kelley, …

Regulators Say Kentucky Mine Operator Negligence Caused Fatal Accident

Federal regulators have concluded that a Harlan County coal mine operator’s negligence resulted in a miner’s death earlier this year. A report issued by the Mine Safety and Health Administration found that Lone Mountain Processing’s Huff Creek No. 1 failed …

Massachusetts Mine Operator to Pay $180K to Resolve Safety Violations

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced Wednesday a global settlement with Worcester Sand and Gravel Company Inc., of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, to resolve citations and orders in three separate dockets. An administrative law judge with …

West Virginia Coal Boss Should Face Maximum Sentence, U.S. Says

Former coal baron Donald Blankenship should face the maximum sentence of one year in prison for flouting mine-safety rules, prosecutors said, urging a judge to send a message to the coal industry. The government asked U.S. District Judge Irene Berger …

U.S. Mine Safety Rule to Curb Black Lung Goes Into Effect

Underground coal mines will ramp up testing for the dust that causes breathing problems and leads to black lung disease under a new federal rule that took effect February 1. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration is requiring coal …

Coal Mine Deaths at Record Low of 11 in 2015

Amid layoffs and idled operations, the U.S. coal industry is close to setting a record low for on-the-job deaths in coal mines. In late December, there were 11 deaths in coal mines nationwide for the year, putting the industry on …

Blankenship Sentencing Set For Next Year in West Virginia Mine Case

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship will be sentenced next year on a conviction of conspiring to violate safety rules at the mine where a deadly explosion occurred. U.S. District Judge Irene Berger on Dec. 10 scheduled Blankenship’s sentencing for …

Blankenship Verdict Too Late for Struggling West Virginia Coal Industry

A 48-foot black granite monument with life-size silhouettes of 29 fallen miners defines this small Appalachian town, just downhill from the site of one of the deadliest U.S. mine disasters. Survivors and friends of those who couldn’t escape the underground …

How a King of Coal Conspired Against Mine Safety

To hear Donald L. Blankenship tell it, the U.S. coal industry has been undone by inept regulators, evil unions, the media and “global warming hoaxers.” But for jurors at his criminal trial in Charleston, West Virginia, it’s the king of …