Latest Mining Headlines
All the headlines from our Mining Topic Page, ordered by recency.
West Virginia High Court to Decide Mine Inspectors’ Liability for Deaths
Jul 19 2012 // A federal appeals court said this week that the state Supreme Court should decide whether Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors can be held liable for coal miners’ deaths, calling it “a matter of...
State’s Safety Inspections at Kentucky’s Harlan Mine Found Lax
Jul 17 2012 // A published report says Kentucky’s state investigators found few problems at a Harlan County mine where federal investigators found enough violations during a surprise safety blitz in May to shut the facility down...
Black Lung Protections for Miners Failing; Cases Continue to Rise
Jul 11 2012 // Black lung diagnoses have doubled in the last decade, and a new investigation blames a combination of factors, including operators who cheat the system and lax enforcement by regulators. Experts have warned of the...
West Virginia Mine Sealed
Jul 2 2012 // Alpha Natural Resources has completed sealing the West Virginia mine where an explosion killed 29 workers in 2010. Alpha spokesman Ted Pile told The Register-Herald that the seals are covered with fill dirt. The mine...
Alpha Seals West Virginia Mine Where 2010 Blast Killed 29
Jun 22 2012 // Alpha Natural Resources has completed sealing the West Virginia mine where an explosion killed 29 workers in 2010. Alpha spokesman Ted Pile told The Register-Herald that crews put the final concrete seal in place at the...
Kentucky Governor Promoting New Drug Law for Miners
Jun 21 2012 // Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is promoting a newly passed law that permanently revokes the credentials of miners who fail drug tests. Beshear was in Pikeville on Tuesday where he said the law sends a clear message that drug...
Prosecutors Say Alpha Has Improved Mine Safety Since West Virginia Settlement
Jun 19 2012 // Alpha Natural Resources has significantly cut its accident and injury rates in the six months since a landmark $210 million settlement that spared the company criminal charges over the 2010 mine explosion that killed 29...
West Virginia Mine Boss to Be Sentenced
Jun 15 2012 // The former superintendent of the Upper Big Branch Mine will be sentenced Oct. 4 for his actions before the disaster that killed 29 men. U.S. District Judge Irene Berger had scheduled Gary May’s sentencing for August...
W.Va. Families Head to U.S. Capitol Over Mine Safety
Jun 8 2012 // Relatives of three miners killed in West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch disaster are in Washington, D.C., to press for the passage of long-stalled mine safety legislation by July 4. Gary Quarles lost son Gary Wayne in...
West Virginia Mines Cited During May Safety Inspections
Jun 4 2012 // The Mine Safety and Health Administration says it issued 254 citations, 19 orders and one safeguard during special inspections at West Virginia coal mines last month. Among those targeted was Argus Energy’s Deep Mine...
Kentucky Coal Mines in Arrears on Safety Fines: Report
May 31 2012 // A published report says Kentucky coal operators owe more in delinquent fines to federal authorities for mine safety violations than any other state. The Courier-Journal said the finding is from an analysis it did of...
Former Drumlummon Mine Foreman Files Lawsuit in Montana
May 29 2012 // The former general foreman of the Drumlummon gold and silver mine northwest of Helena, Mont. says he was fired for enforcing safety standards and has filed a lawsuit against mine owner RX Gold and Silver. The Independent...
West Virginia Coal Miner Claims Alpha Fired Him Over Safety
May 24 2012 // A coal miner who says he was fired for enforcing safety standards that slowed down both production and the sealing of the Upper Big Branch mine in southern West Virginia is suing Alpha Natural Resources. The State Journal...
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...
