New Mexico's Abandoned Mine Land Program has received the "Best in the West Award" from the Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining.
The Cerrillos South Mine Safeguard Project, located 25 miles south of Santa Fe, was selected by Interior's Office of Surface Mining and member states and tribes for exemplary abandoned mine land reclamation.
"The Abandoned Mine Land Program protects our citizens from unsafe mine openings, of which there still remain thousands in our state," Bill Brancard, director of the Mining and Minerals Division, said in a news release.
The Abandoned Mine Land Bureau is a part of the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department's Mining and Minerals Division.
The award-winning project is located within the Cerrillos Hills Historic Park, which is a 1,116-acre Santa Fe County Open Space Park. The project focused on securing more than 87 openings while preserving resources.
Creative solutions were designed to protect wildlife habitat, including gates with bat and raptor access. Interpretive signs and mine closure methods, such as viewing platforms, were incorporated.
According to the news release, the award was handed out at the 26th annual National Association of Abandoned Mine Land Programs Conference recently held in Flagstaff.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
THREE MINERS RESCUED, SIX MORE BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN TRAPPED
BARTIN - Three workers were rescued from rubble of a coal mine that collapsed in Amasra town of northwestern city of Bartin, officials of the Turkish Charcoal Agency (TTK) said on Monday.
TTK officials told the A.A correspondent that the coal mine collapsed due to a landslide this evening, trapping some workers.
Three workers who were stranded in the coal mine were pulled alive from the rubble, the officials said. They noted that two of the injured workers were hospitalized in Bartin while one worker who was slightly injured was discharged from the hospital.
TTK officials stated that efforts were under way to rescue six more miners who were believed to have been trapped beneath the debris.
On the other hand, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler was on his way to the scene of the coal mine collapse.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
SINDRI: Production in 7-15 incline mine of Basudeopur colliery under area V of BCCL, remained disrupted for the second day on Tuesday, after reports of emission of toxic carbon monoxide gas from the mine.
Company sources said the rescue team which went inside the mine on Tuesday to locate the source of emission has detected fire in the mine and it is being sealed to stop the fire from spreading to other areas.
Panic gripped mine workers as soon as news of emission of toxic gas spread on Monday afternoon. The emission was so intense that immediately all workers were brought out of the mine and security personnel were deployed on the entry point to stop entry of anyone without proper safety equipment. Production was going on in Seam No 8, which is situated by the side of other seams and which are under fire since long.
It was suspected that toxic gas was emitting from the seam already under fire. A team of colliery executives along with senior officials of the safety department of the company went inside the mine to detect the source of gas emission on Monday evening but failed.
According to company sources, a mine rescue team went inside on Tuesday to study the situation, which detected fire in the incline mine. Safety experts advised sealing the mine for stopping the fire from spreading further for which work is going on sources added.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
XI'AN, Nov. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- A gold mine asphyxia accident that happened in northwestern Shaanxi province took the lives of six farmers, and their bodies have been recovered, local sources said Wednesday.
The accident of suffocation occurred Monday night at Taoyuan gold mine located nearby Suyu village of Huaxian county, when nine peasant farmers were working at a workface 200 meters underground where oxygen was thin and scarce, said local officials.
When the tragedy happened, three people managed to escape to the ground, while the six others were left behind.
Local government officials organized an emergency rescue effort right after the accident, but repeated cave-in caused by the shortage of oxygen at the bottom of mine pit impaired the rescue move, and the bodies of those killed were brought out till Tuesday night.
The six dead were all farmers in adjacent rural areas, and the cause of the accident is still being investigated, said a local government official.
It is learned that the Taoyuan gold mine where the asphyxia accident occurred, formerly owned by the county, was closed for months, but reopend Monday after its transfer to a private owner.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
A fire at a Chinese coal mine that began in 1874 has finally been extinguished after four years of concentrated firefighting efforts, the BBC reports.
The fire broke out at the Liuhuanggou colliery, near Urumqi in Xinjiang province and has smoldered and flared routinely for the past 130 years.
In the last four years, firefighting costs reached $12 million in efforts to snuff the flames that were emitting 100,000 tons of carbon monoxide and sulfur every year, the state Xinhua news agency said.
Officials estimate the fire consumed 1.8 million tons of coal and produced 40,000 tons of ash every year.
Hou Xuecheng, head of the Xinjiang Coalfield Firefighting Project Office, said the Liuhuanggou fire was the largest among eight other major coalfield fires burning in the province.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Coming face-to-face with an emergency situation would be daunting enough for most, but imagine it happening underground.
That is what the teams involved in the 101st Underground Mine Emergency Response Competition are in training for. They are workers from mine sites who volunteer their own time to be ready should a situation such as a rock fall or underground fire occur.
Brad Stearnes is leader for the team from Kundana and points out, "You hope it never happens, but when it does you are glad you are prepared."
Their level of preparation is tested in this competition that is the biggest of its sort in the Southern Hemisphere. It involves events that cover a range of skills such as search and rescue, roping, first aid and fire fighting.
Despite the excitement that surrounds such a big event, there is a more serious side to it. Brad clearly recalls when he was sent out for an underground emergency: "One of the guys was doing jack scaling and a rock came off the wall and fell on him. His bone was sticking out and it's the sort of situation when you are glad that you know what to do."
People like Brad give a lot of their own time and energy to improve their skills in addressing such situations but at the end of the day it seems like it's worth it. As Brad notes, "I personally benefit from everything I learn. I can use these skills in everyday life. When I go bush with my little son and my fiancée I'm glad to have those skills ready."
BECKLEY, W.Va. -- A federal agency will hold safety seminars in Kentucky and West Virginia on retreat mining, the practice of mining coal pillars that support the roof of an underground mine after all coal has been taken from an area.
Two miners have been killed in accidents this year because of the practice, which allows the coal mine roof to collapse.
The free seminars offered by the Mine Safety and Health Administration will discuss mobile roof supports, geology, roof support issues and global stability.
"There are safe and efficient ways of doing retreat mining, and we want to be sure operators or underground coal mines are aware of the hazards involved and how to avoid those hazards," said Dave D. Lauriski, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.
The four-hour seminars will be at 9 a.m. Nov. 9 at Hazard Community College in Hazard, Ky., and 8 a.m. Nov. 10 at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy near Beckley.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
A federal hearing began Thursday on Jim Walter Resources' challenge to eight violations in a 2001 double explosion at a Brookwood mine that killed 13 miners.
The non-jury hearing in Birmingham is expected to last seven weeks before Administrative Law Judge David Barbour of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration determined that eight violations of federal mine safety standards contributed to the Sept. 23, 2001, double explosions that killed the miners at the Jim Walter No.5 mine. The agency's investigation found that the mine did not use enough suppressant on combustible coal dust and had not performed a fire drill in six months. MSHA's investigation also found the mine did not adequately support the roof whose "unintentional collapse" led to the explosions. The company also was fined $435,000.
But the company contested the violations.
"The facts of this case do not support the citations that have been written," Kevin W. Patton, a company attorney, said outside court. "This is the first time the company will tell its side of the story. We've been looking forward to this a long time."
Amy Louviere , MSHA spokeswoman, said the hearing is being conducted in federal court here because the accident happened in Alabama.
The United Mine Workers union is also a party to the case.
Barbour is not expected to make a determination until mid-2005.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Nov 5, 2004 — BEIJING (Reuters) - A coal mine explosion has killed at least 15 miners in northern China, the latest in a string of accidents in the country's notoriously dangerous mining industry, the official Xinhua news agency said on Friday.
About 48 miners were working underground at the Shiyawan coal pit near the city of Shuozhou in the northern province of Shanxi when the explosion took place. One miner was still missing, Xinhua said.
China's coal industry, already the world's biggest and most hazardous, produces the main fuel for the world's seventh-biggest economy, and has expanded with little regulation to keep up with booming demand.
China's coal mine deaths hit 4,153 in the first nine months of this year, down 630 from the same period last year, according to official figures.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
The accident occurred when about 16 people were illegally extracting coal from the abandoned mine. Some of them managed to escape, but 10 people got trapped.
The bodies of three people were recovered, but the toll is expected to go up. Rescue operations are on.
Illegal coal mining is a common phenomenon in Jharkhand. Contractors hire people to extract the coal illegally from abandoned mines. Inevitably after such accidents, the contractors go scot-free as the families of miners do not come forward to lodge complaints fearing police action.
Over 600 people are said to have lost their lives in illegal mining in Jharkhand so far.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
The death toll in a gas explosion in a Chinese coal mine rose to 16 on Saturday when authorities said everyone missing in the accident had been confirmed dead.
There were 48 miners working in the Shiyawan Coal Mine in Shuozhou, a city in Shanxi province, when the explosion occurred Friday, according to the government. It said 32 were rescued.
"Rescuers found the body of the last missing miner Saturday morning," the official Xinhua News Agency said.
After the explosion, all 66 coal mines in the same district were ordered to stop production and undergo safety checks, the report said.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
A mid-west Western Australian mine site has won this year's national underground mine rescue competition.
Newmont's Golden Grove team completed a range of emergency tasks over three days to win the coveted title.
Fifteen teams participated in the century-old event near Kalgoorlie, testing their skills in search and rescue, firefighting and first aid.
Competition spokesman Brad Brierly says the event is more taxing than above-ground rescue scenarios.
"Underground is definitely a lot harder one to organise...search and rescue, exercise, walking around with your breathing apparatus on your back and then probably lugging a casualty weighing 80-90 kilos...400 metres up a decline, it's like walking up a hill," he said.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
BROOKWOOD, AL - A hot spot caused by the natural reaction of air and iron pyrite, or “fool’s gold," on Wednesday (10/6) caused the evacuation of Jim Walter Resources Blue Creek Mine No. 5.
The mine was declared safe by 8:30 p.m., said Dennis Hall, spokesman for Jim Walter Resources.
None of the 100 or so miners in No. 5 was injured.
The phenomenon, also called “spontaneous heating," results when oxygen strikes iron pyrite, which sometimes forms in veins of coal. It is eliminated by removing the oxygen by covering it with water.
The No. 5 mine is the only Jim Walter Resources mine in Brookwood where the hot spots can form. The last ones occurred about a decade ago, Hall said.
On Wednesday, sensors in the mine alerted workers to the hot spot just before noon. Officials found a 12-foot-by-12-foot area in the 14-square-mile mine where the iron pyrite had sparked.
“It’s just a natural occurrence," Hall said.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Statement of U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Dave D. Lauriski on Focused Inspection Study
MSHA News Release
November 5, 2004
The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has made available to the public an independent report on the agency's mine safety and health inspection program. ICF Consulting of Fairfax, Va., conducted the study and made recommendations on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of MSHA's mine inspection programs and activities. U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Dave D. Lauriski released the following statement today concerning the study.
"Injuries and fatalities in the U.S. mining industry are at an all-time low. We have been taking a comprehensive look at agency operations to figure out how to get to the next level in mine safety -- zero mining fatalities, injuries and illnesses," said Lauriski. "This third-party review is just one of the many tools we at MSHA are using in our ongoing evaluations of agency operations. This report does support some improvements that we have already made at MSHA, though the report itself was not the sole catalyst for those changes. The study took a fresh look at how to enhance mine safety and we may not find every recommendation to be useful. We are still evaluating the report along with a lot of other information, including the practical experience of seasoned MSHA professionals to ensure that we provide the highest level of service to American miners. Our goal remains to send each and every miner home safe and healthy after each shift."
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
NANCHANG, Nov. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- A gas explosion killed five at a coal mine in Hengfeng County in Shangrao City, east China's Jiangxi Province, on early Tuesday morning, local sources said.
Puqian Coal Mine is state-owned under the administration of Hengfeng County.
Municipal and county officials rushed to the site to help the rescue work. Further investigation is underway.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Mine agency misses 'systematic' problems, study says
November 9, 2004
Federal mine inspections miss “systematic” safety problems that cause accidents and fatalities, according to a year-old study by a government consultant.
U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration officials spend too much time on what industry critics call “nit-picky” citations and not enough on larger safety concerns, according to the study.
On Monday, MSHA officials released the September 2003 study by ICF Consulting of Fairfax, Va.
MSHA paid the industry consulting firm more than $400,000 to study ways that the agency could better focus — and in some cases reduce — its inspections of the nation’s mines.
For more than a year, MSHA would not provide Joe Main, top safety officer for the United Mine Workers union, with any information about the ICF study.
In mid-October, MSHA did release some government records that outlined the purposes of the ICF review, including one that suggested the consultant would look for ways to reduce inspections at mines with good safety records.
MSHA officials released the complete ICF report, and posted it on the agency Web site (www.msha.gov) only after The Charleston Gazette filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the document.
Suzy Bohnert, a press spokeswoman for MSHA, declined to make any agency officials available for an interview about the ICF report.
In a prepared statement Monday, MSHA chief Dave Lauriski said that the agency is still reviewing the year-old report.
“This third-party review is just one of the many tools we at MSHA are using in our ongoing evaluations of agency operations,” Lauriski said in the statement. “The study took a fresh look at how to enhance mine safety, and we may not find every recommendation to be useful.”
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Man awarded $5.7 million for injuries from mine accident
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - A man was awarded $5.7 million from two companies for injuries he suffered when a coal digger he was operating fell down an embankment at a strip mine five years ago.
After a two-week trial, a Pittsburgh federal jury Tuesday awarded $6.4 million to David S. Carcaise, 40, of New Castle, and $500,0000 to his wife, Leslie, for the accident in September 1999 at a Lawrence County mine.
Carcaise was operating a drag line, a large crane-like machine used to scoop and scrape up coal, when the earth underneath gave way and it fell into a pit, according to his lawyer, Mark Homyak. Carcaise's chest was crushed and his spine was damaged and he'll have to use a morphine pump to control the pain for the rest of his life, Homyak said.
The jury found that Cemex Inc., of Houston, and Industrial Contracting and Erecting, of Terre Haute, Ind., were liable for the accident. Cemex owned the mine and the machine. Industrial Contracting and Erecting had taken the machine apart and brought it to Pennsylvania from Kentucky.
Attorneys for the two companies did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Homyak claimed officials knew the dragline was unstable and saw it rocking back and forth at the edge of the pit before it fell in. The machine also lacked 13 1/2 tons of ballast, Homyak said.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
BEIJING, Nov. 11 (Xinhuanet)-- The central government will take tough measures to rectify coal mine industry this winter, vowing to improve coal mine safety.
State Councilor Hua Jianmin said at a meeting on coal mine safety held in Beijing Thursday that to ensure work safety in coal mine industry is significant to the country's macro-economic development. The industry should take safety and human-life in prior agenda.
The accident prevention work should be concentrated on gas explosion prevention, and relevant departments should carefully investigate production beyond the ventilation capability in mines and list out those high-risk coal mines for tighter supervision, Hua said.
In the first eight months this year, the death toll of coal mine accidents hit 3,457, according to the State Administration ofWork Safety.
Last month, a deadly gas explosion at the Daping Coal Mine in central China's Henan Province took 148 miner' lives.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
BEIJING -- An explosion in a coal mine has killed 29 miners in the same Chinese province where a blast at another mine claimed nearly 150 lives last month, the government said Friday.
The latest explosion occurred Thursday at the Xinsheng Coal Mine in Liangwa, a town in Henan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing local officials.
Six others were injured and rescuers were searching for survivors, the report said. It didn't say how many people were working in the mine at the time of the explosion and how many others might have been killed.
An explosion Oct. 20 at the Daping Mine in the city of Xinmi in Henan killed 148 people. It was the country's deadliest mine accident since 2000, when an underground explosion killed 162 people in a coal mine in the southern province of Guizhou.
China's coal mines are the most dangerous in the world, with 4,153 people reported killed in the first nine months of this year in fires, floods and explosions.
Accidents often are blamed on negligence or lack of firefighting and ventilation equipment.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
China mine blast toll rises to 33 as inspection drive announced
November 12, 2004
BEIJING : The death toll from an explosion at a coal mine in central China has risen to 33 with six injured, as authorities announced plans for an inspection drive in a bid to improve shockingly low safety standards in the nation's mines.
The latest fatal accident to hit China's coal industry occurred Thursday at the Xinsheng Coal Mine in Pingdingshan city in Henan province.
According to the State Administration of Work Safety, the mine had been officially closed and was operating illegally.
The accident occurred as the State Council, China's cabinet, issued orders Thursday for a nationwide inspection of coal mines, vowing to crack down on unsafe mines and portraying a dismal situation in the industry, the China News Service reported.
Liu Hongyi, an official with the Pingdingshan coal-mine safety office, told AFP that it was not clear how many miners were in the Xinsheng mine at the time of the blast because the owner had fled the site and could not be found.
Rescue operations had finished early Friday, he said.
"If the death toll is accurate then this is the biggest mine accident in Pingdingshan this year."
Pingdingshan, a central coal mining area in China, is adjacent to Xinmi coal mining district where 148 miners lost their lives late last month in one of the worst Chinese mining accidents in recent memory.
China's voracious appetite for energy has resulted in a huge demand for coal as the country attempts to overcome widespread electrical shortages.
According to workers at Xinmi, mine safety had been sacrificed in an all out effort to profit from rising coal prices as state and private mines go into overdrive to meet demand.
In 2003, China produced some five billion tons of coal, or 35 percent of world production, but had more than 8,000 mining fatalities or 80 percent of all global mining deaths during the period, Wang Xianzheng, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, said at the State Council meeting.
"Our death rate for every ton of coal is 100 times higher than in the United States and 30 times higher than in South Africa," Wang was quoted by the China News Service as saying.
Efficiency at China's mines was also low with a per capita annual production of a Chinese miner only 2.2 percent of an American miner and 8.0 percent of a miner in South Africa, Wang said.
Besides fatalities, some 600,000 miners were suffering from lung diseases at large state owned mines due to poor ventilation, while last year state mine workers reported 20,000 new cases of lung disease, he said.
"If we consider small local and township mines, which don't report this kind of statistic, then there are some 2 million mine workers with lung disease," Wang said.
The Hong Kong-based rights group China Labor Bulletin puts the annual number of mining deaths in China much higher than the official figures at around 20,000, as mine operators cover up accidents to avoid costly shut-downs and fines.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Report: China accounted for 80 percent of coal mine deaths worldwide last year
China's accident-plagued coal mines accounted for 80 percent of the world's coal mining deaths last year, the government said Saturday, calling for more efforts to reduce the carnage.
A nationwide safety campaign reduced the fatality rate this year, but Chinese coal mines still suffered 4,153 deaths in the first nine months of this year, according to official figures.
"The frequency of coal mine accidents in China is still very high," said Wang Xianzheng, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. "Working conditions for China's coal miners need to be improved."
Xinhua cited Wang's agency as saying China accounted for 80 percent of the world's coal mining deaths last year, while producing only 35 percent of its coal. It didn't give figures, but the government said earlier that coal mine accidents in 2003 killed 6,702 people.
Mine safety has been a prominent issue for the government of President Hu Jintao, who has called on communist officials to do a better job of protecting public safety.
Last month, an underground gas explosion at a state-owned coal mine in the central city of Xinmi in Henan province killed 148 miners in China's deadliest coal mine accident since 2000.
This week, another explosion at a mine in the same province killed 33 people.
China said in 2000 that it was setting up its first nationwide network of mine safety inspectors. Xinhua said that since then, the government has spent some 4 billion yuan (US$500 million) on helping mines to prevent gas explosions _ a major cause of death.
Most accidents occur in small, sometimes illegally run mines and often are blamed on indifference to safety rules and lack of equipment required to clear away gas that seeps from coal beds.
"China lags far behind developed countries in coal mine safety," Xinhua quoted Wang as saying at a national mine safety meeting in Beijing.
The average Chinese miner produces 321 tons of coal per year _ just 2.2 percent of a U.S. miner's output, according to Xinhua. It said their fatality rate _ measured per 100 tons of coal produced _ was 100 times that of U.S. mines.
In addition, some 600,000 Chinese coal miners are suffering from black lung, a condition caused by long-term exposure to coal dust, the report said. That figure is growing by 70,000 miners a year.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration official in charge of safety in the nation's mines is leaving his job.
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Dave Lauriski said Friday he would leave his job by the end of next week. He said plans to work within the mining field from his home in Colorado but declined to be more specific about his plans. There's no word yet on a replacement.
Lauriski had a contentious relationship with the United Mine Workers of America, which represents coal miners.
Perhaps the biggest dispute came over a proposal by the Bush administration to allow coal operators to rely on respirators in coal mines. Union officials complained the rule, which was shelved, would have allowed for more dust in mines as long as the respirators were being used.
Lauriski said his proudest moment at the agency came two years ago when nine Pennsylvania miners were pulled to safety after being trapped underground for three days following an accident.
He said safety in the nation's mines has improved under his watch. He noted that there were 88 mine deaths in fiscal 2000, compared with 48 in fiscal year 2004. The fiscal year runs from the beginning of October through the end of September.
Sari, Mazandaran Prov, Nov 13, IRNA -- An explosion at a coal mine in Vaz village, near the town of Nour, in Iran's northern Mazandaran province at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday left three dead.
A report released by the Public Relations Department of the provincial Red Crescent Society said that one of the mine workers who died in the blast succumbed to his burns, which affected about 85 percent of his body, after being taken to Nour hospital.
"The explosion took place after the tunnel entrance was blocked and gas accumulated inside the mine.
"Rescue teams and fire brigade teams from the city of Amol were dispatched to the site by the provincial Red Crescent Society immediately after the explosion," added the report.
The report further said that rescue teams were still trying to help save the few mine workers who were still trapped in the coal mine as of the report.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
A coal mine gas explosion in southwest China killed six people and 13 others were missing, state media said on Sunday.
The blast on Saturday in Pengzhou, a city in Sichuan province, occurred as 63 miners were working underground, newspapers and the Xinhua News Agency said. Of them, 44 were evacuated, Xinhua said. Rescue work continued on Sunday and the cause of the explosion was under investigation.
China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, with thousands killed each year in explosions, cave-ins, floods and other accidents.
Mining deaths are a near daily occurrence, and the government has repeated vowed to do more to improve safety and punish negligent mine owners.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Officials pinpoint cause of mine blast November 14, 2004
Chinese authorities say a massive coal mine blast last month that killed 148 people was sparked after mine operators failed to realize that extending the mine's shaft would greatly increase its gas level, Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.
Insufficient ventilation in the mine allowed the gas to build up and mix with fresh air, and the explosion was ignited by sparks from mine machinery, said the Xinhua report.
The explosion Oct. 20 at the Daping Mine in Henan province was the country's deadliest mine accident since 2000.
It occurred "deep in a complicated stratum" inside the mine, Xinhua said. When mine operators extended the shaft, gas rushed out, it added, citing Zhao Tiechui, deputy head of the State Administration of Production Safety.
Compensation work has been carried out smoothly. The social security center for Henan's coal industry signed contracts of compensation with families of all victims by Nov. 10, according to local government officials.
Among the 32 injured, 15 have already been discharged from hospital and the rest are in stable conditions.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Motorcyclist falls into San Bernardino County mine shaft November 14, 2004
CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. Officials say a 21-year-old man riding an off-road vehicle in northwestern San Bernardino County has fallen into a mine shaft.
Authorities say someone called on a cell phone about 1:41 p-m today to report the crash in the Red Mountain area.
A rescue team has checked the shaft down to about 300 feet but there is no visual or verbal contact with the man.
Another rescue team from Barstow that specializes in mine rescues is on the way to the scene.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
Biker falls into mine shaft, dies
A 21-year-old motorcyclist died Sunday after plummeting hundreds of feet into a mine shaft in northwestern San Bernardino County, officials said.
The off-road rider fell into the mine shaft about 1:45 p.m. in the Red Mountain area east of Interstate 395, a Fire Department spokesman said. A search and rescue team found the body about 7:30 p.m. roughly 500 feet down the shaft, a county spokesperson said. The man's body was recovered, but his identity was not released. Red Mountain is northeast of Kern County's California City.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
The death toll in a coal mine gas explosion in southwest China has doubled to 12 and seven workers are still missing, the government said Monday.
The blast in Pengzhou, a city in Sichuan province, occurred Saturday while 63 miners were working underground, state media reported. Some 44 managed to escape.
The State Coal Mine Safety Administration said on its Web site that the death toll had risen from six to 12 on Monday.
The cause of the explosion was under investigation.
Thousands of workers are killed each year in near daily explosions, cave-ins, floods and other accidents in China's coal mines, the world's deadliest.
The government has repeatedly vowed to do more to improve safety and punish negligent mine owners.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
SAN BERNARDINO: County's abandoned mine fatality is the first in the state this year.
01:23 AM PST on Tuesday, November 16, 2004
By HERBERT ATIENZA / The Press-Enterprise
The death of a 21-year-old motorcyclist who plummeted about 700 feet into a mine shaft in northwestern San Bernardino County is prompting warnings from officials and outdoor enthusiasts about the need to be aware of the dangers posed by abandoned mines.
Matthew James Frey, 21, of Mission Viejo, was riding his 2004 Honda TR motorcycle with two friends about 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the open desert, about 300 feet east of Highway 395 in Red Mountain, when he fell into an abandoned mine shaft, according to the San Bernardino Coroner's office.
The motorcyclist was riding up the west face of a steep mine tailing mound, and when he reached the plateau, he and his motorcycle plummeted into the vertical mine shaft, California Highway Patrol spokesman Joel Martinez said.
"The thing about abandoned mine-related accidents is that there's no predicting it," said Doug Craig, manager of the Abandoned Mine Lands Unit of the California Department of Conservation..
He said the incident marks the first fatality in the state involving abandoned mines this year. Over the last three years, at least three people have died in abandoned mine related incidents, he said.
He said many hikers or motorcyclists often are not aware that they're in a mine area. Some abandoned land mines are marked, while others, especially those in private lands, may not be marked. There are about 47,000 abandoned mines in California, with about 12,000 to 15,000 abandoned mines in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to state estimates. Many of the abandoned mines are deadly reminders of the Gold Rush that gripped the state in the late 1800s.
"We really need to emphasize that abandoned mine shafts are prevalent throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties and they are and can be dangerous," said Doran Sanchez, spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management office in Moreno Valley.
He said backcountry riders and hikers could avoid accidents by using established trails and tracks, never venturing out alone, and steering clear of abandoned mines when they come across one.
The experience of being in an abandoned mine accident is familiar to Christopher Peatross, of Santa Clarita, who fell into a 60-foot mine shaft while riding his motorcycle in California City last February.
"I thought it was a dream or something," recalled the 12-year-old boy. He said he could see his father, Scott, and other would be rescuers, but they could not see him.
"It was a life-changing experience for my husband," said Cathy Peatross, Christopher's mom, about the family outing that almost turned deadly. "It took me a good 30 minutes to comprehend what was happening."
Craig said that besides the danger of falling, other hazards posed by abandoned mines include possible collapse of abandoned structures, getting trapped in areas that lack oxygen or having the mine collapse around you.
"Of the thousands and thousands of bike trips that are made each weekend you don't hear about this kind of thing very often, but accidents do happen," said Don Benton, owner of the Desert Cycle Works repair and parts shop in Twentynine Palms.
According to highway patrol reports, Frey died of blunt force trauma resulting from the fall. He was recovered by Indian Wells Valley Search and Rescue Team several hours later.
The State Department of Conservation is aware of at least two other incidents involving abandoned mines in the state that claimed the lives of people:
In 2002, two brothers from Santa Ana, ages 23 and 19, drowned in a former silver mine in the Cleveland National Forest east of Orange, after they swam through an underwater passageway.
In October 2003, a 45-year-old man from Gasquet, near the Oregon border, died when his vehicle plunged down a 70-foot mine shaft.
___________________________________________________________ United States Mine Rescue Association www.usmra.com
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