Latest Mining Headlines
All the headlines from our Mining Topic Page, ordered by recency.
W. Va. Mine Safety Chief Worries About Shortage of Inspectors
Jun 5 2007 // West Virginia is looking for a few good mine inspectors, but the state’s safety chief doesn’t know where they’ll come from. Ron Wooten, director of the state Office of Miners’ Health Safety and...
Widows, Survivor of Explosion Sue Ky. Mine Owner, Pa. Company
May 23 2007 // A mine supervisor and a coal company put production over safety prior to an underground explosion last year that killed five miners, relatives and the sole survivor alleged Monday in a lawsuit. The lawsuit cited numerous...
Federal Officials Fine Ky. Mine Operator for Safety Violations
May 15 2007 // A southeastern Kentucky coal mine operator was fined $761,000 by federal regulators for safety violations found during a recent inspection. Stillhouse Mining LLC, an operator in Harlan County, was fined for four...
U.S. Officials: Lightning Likely Cause of Deadly W. Va. Sago Mine Blast
May 11 2007 // One or more lightning strikes likely caused an electrical current in a cable left deep inside the Sago Mine and touched off the methane blast blamed for the deaths of 12 coal miners last year, the federal Mine Safety and...
Feds to Unveil Conclusions on W. Va. Sago Mine Disaster
May 10 2007 // Federal investigators will issue their report Wednesday on the Sago Mine disaster, which killed 12 West Virginia coal miners in a January 2006 explosion and prolonged entrapment underground. Mine Safety and Health...
Mountaintop Mining Becomes Issue in Kentucky Governor’s Race
May 10 2007 // Removing Kentucky mountaintops in search of coal is a noisy, jarring process. Warning sirens blare, followed by massive explosions that shake the earth and propel broken rocks skyward. Bulldozers rumble across parched...
U.S. probes 2005 W. Va. mine death
May 7 2007 // The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has decided to investigate a fatal 2005 West Virginia coal truck accident after all. MSHA and the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training did not...
N.Y. Family Sues Mine, Claiming Deaths Caused by Talc Exposure
May 2 2007 // Relatives of a 67-year-old man from upstate New York have filed a lawsuit against a mining company after he became the third family member to die from a rare cancer he allegedly contracted from exposure to asbestos-tainted...
W. Va. Hosts International Mining Health and Safety Symposium
Apr 26 2007 // Representatives of the coal industry, labor, government, academia as well as technology innovators and equipment manufacturers are expected to attend the second annual International Mining Health and Safety Symposium in...
Investigations Begin into Fatal Western Md. Mine Collapse
Apr 26 2007 // The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has launched a formal investigation into last week’s accident in a Maryland open pit coal mine that killed two men. “We evaluate all aspects of the mine...
U.S. to Probe 2005 W. Va. Mine Death
Apr 24 2007 // The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has decided to investigate a fatal 2005 West Virginia coal truck accident after all. MSHA and the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training did not...
Winn & Co. Hires Miner for P/C Team
Apr 17 2007 // Craig Miner has joined the Property Casualty Team of Winn & Co. based in Hollister, California. His primary focus will be in sales and client retention. Prior to joining Winn, Miner worked at a regional brokerage firm...
W. Va.: Mine Owners Seek Court Review of U.S. Air Requirements
Apr 13 2007 // The National Mining Association has asked a federal court to throw out a federal requirement that underground coal mines provide enough breathable air to keep trapped miners alive until they’re rescued. The...
W. Va. Gov. Manchin Signs Mine Safety, Workplace Bills
Apr 6 2007 // West Virginia has ratcheted up its coal mine safety laws. Gov. Joe Manchin signed the latest legislation spurred by last year’s fatal mining accidents. The bill approved by Manchin addresses such topics as...
Kentucky Coal Mine Widows Prove Powerful as Lobbyists
Apr 4 2007 // Claudia Cole would have considered herself an unlikely person to be a lobbyist in the state Capitol. She preferred the simple life of wife and mother. But when her husband was killed in a Kentucky coal mine, the country...
Kentucky Mine Owner Pleads Guilty to Workers Comp Fraud
Apr 3 2007 // Harold Simpson, owner and operator of Simpson Mining Co. in Perry County, Ky., pleaded guilty to mail fraud in U.S. District Court after special investigators with Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance discovered...
Some Worry Increased Fines Won’t Make Mines Safer
Mar 27 2007 // A new federal rule allowing increased penalties for mine safety violations could be meaningless if inspectors feel they cannot impose them, skeptics say. The changes, which take effect in late April, were required by the...
Federal Mine Safety Agency Increases Fines for Safety Violations
Mar 23 2007 // The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said this week it has finalized a rule that increases fines for all safety violations. “MSHA has structured the final rule so that higher penalties will induce...
W.Va. Expected to Approve First Coal Mine Shelters
Mar 12 2007 // Emergency shelters are about to become a reality in West Virginia coal mines. The state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training is expected to approve the first underground shelter designs this week, Randy...
State Alleges Cover-Up in Pa. Coal Mine Worker’s Death
Jan 30 2007 // Pennsylvania coal industry regulators have revoked the operating permit of a coal mine where a worker died in an explosion three months ago, alleging that a cover-up of a similar 2004 blast might have contributed to the...
