Latest Mining Headlines
All the headlines from our Mining Topic Page, ordered by recency.
10 Miners Have Died in Job-Related Accidents Thus Far in 2012
Apr 27 2012 // The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said 10 miners died in work-related accidents at the nation’s mines during the first quarter of 2012, and half of those occurred on five consecutive weekends. MSHA...
Suspect Air Packs Still Being Used at Coal Mines
Apr 25 2012 // Two years of testing have found a critical defect in a certain model of emergency breathing devices used in U.S. coal mines, but federal regulators have no immediate plans to remove the more than 70,000 air packs that...
West Virginia Mine Blast Survivors’ Cases Still Unsettled
Apr 11 2012 // Nine men who survived West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine disaster want to abandon mediation of their personal injury claims and start gathering evidence for trial because they say the mine’s new owner...
New Federal Safety Rules for Mines Finalized
Apr 6 2012 // Federal regulators are issuing a final set of rules for underground coal mine examinations that aim to hold operators more accountable for finding and fixing dangerous conditions — and preventing the deaths of their...
Inspections Improving Mine Safety, Says U.S. Official
Apr 3 2012 // Aggressive inspections at troubled mines are helping create safer working environments for coal miners, the head of the federal government’s mine safety agency said during a visit to Kentucky. U.S. Mine Safety and...
Ex-Mine Chief Pleads Guilty in West Virginia Blast
Mar 30 2012 // The former superintendent of the West Virginia mine where 29 workers died in a 2010 explosion pleaded guilty on Thursday to a federal conspiracy charge that he tipped off employees to safety inspections. Gary May, 43, is...
Regulators Say West Virginia Mines Warned of Inspectors
Mar 30 2012 // Three times in a month, regulators have caught West Virginia coal companies illegally warning miners that federal inspectors were onsite. Mine Safety and Health Administration director Joe Main says such warnings let...
West Virginia Passes Mine Safety Measure
Mar 19 2012 // West Virginia will update its mine safety laws in the wake of the worst U.S. coal mining disaster in four decades. The House of Delegates sent the measure to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, who proposed the legislation. Delegates...
Feds Claims Kentucky Mine Owes $1.6M in Safety Fines
Mar 13 2012 // Federal mining officials are suing a southeastern Kentucky mine for more than $1.6 million owed in delinquent fines for violations of safety laws. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration said it issued 1,244...
Feds Announce Charges in Deadly Utah Mine Collapse
Mar 12 2012 // Misdemeanor criminal charges have been filed and fines levied against the operator of a Utah mine where a 2007 collapse killed six miners, two rescuers and a federal inspector, Federal prosecutors said Friday. U.S....
West Virginia Lawmakers Pass Mine Safety Measure
Mar 8 2012 // West Virginia will update its mine safety laws in the wake of the worst U.S. coal mining disaster in four decades. The House of Delegates sent the measure to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. Delegates approved several changes made...
$100,000 Settlement for Maryland Coal Miners’ Families
Mar 5 2012 // Two families will split $100,000 in a settlement of a wrongful death suit brought after two coal miners were killed in a high-wall collapse. The Times-News of Cumberland, Maryland, reports that the families of 51-year-old...
Agency Blames Lack Of Control For Alaska Mine Accident
Mar 2 2012 // A federal agency blames inadequate management policies, procedures and controls for a fatal accident at an Alaska mine last year. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration on Wednesday released its report on the...
Ex-Security Chief at West Virginia Mine Gets 3 Years in Jail
Mar 1 2012 // A U.S. judge sentenced the former security chief at a West Virginia mine to three years in prison after being convicted of two felonies related to a federal probe into the worst U.S. coal mining disaster in 40 years, in...
Kentucky Screenings of Miners Highlights Risk of Drug Use
Feb 27 2012 // More than 1,500 coal miners have tested positive for drug use since Kentucky began screenings six years ago, a state attorney told lawmakers, and he urged lawmakers to close legal loopholes that can allow miners who test...
Massey Mine Superintendent Charged with Conspiracy in West Virginia Blast
Feb 23 2012 // The former superintendent of the West Virginia coal mine where 29 workers died in a 2010 explosion was charged on Wednesday with felony conspiracy by tipping off mine operators to safety inspections, allowing them to...
Firm Develops ‘Guardian Angel’ for Miners
Feb 20 2012 // A West Virginia company is working on a piece of equipment designed to keep miners safer. Trinity Resources, headquartered in Putnam County, demonstrated its mobile mine safety chamber recently at the West Virginia Mining...
Mine Safety Chief Seeks to End Complacency Over Safety
Feb 20 2012 // If there’s one lasting cultural change Mine Safety and Health Administration Director Joe Main wants to make in both the federal agency and the industry it regulates, it’s ending the cycle of intensity and...
Firm Develops ‘Guardian Angel’ for Miners
Feb 20 2012 // A West Virginia company is working on a piece of equipment designed to keep miners safer. Trinity Resources, headquartered in Putnam County, demonstrated its mobile mine safety chamber recently at the West Virginia Mining...
Mine Safety Chief Seeks to End Complacency Over Safety
Feb 20 2012 // If there’s one lasting cultural change Mine Safety and Health Administration Director Joe Main wants to make in both the federal agency and the industry it regulates, it’s ending the cycle of intensity and...
