Wetumpka man dies when crane overturns in sand pit
The Associated Press 10/2/03 12:21 PM
PRATTVILLE, Ala. (AP) -- A Wetumpka man operating a crane in a sand and gravel pit died from injuries suffered when the crane overturned.
Authorities said Tommy D. Ellis, 45, was pronounced dead at Prattville Baptist Hospital after the accident Wednesday morning at Red Bluff Sand and Gravel Co. near Prattville.
Prattville Fire Capt. Lowell Strock said Ellis was operating a crane that was moving a large pump when the crane overturned. Emergency crews called at 8:31 a.m. were not able to free Ellis from the cab of the crane in the pit until about 9:24 a.m.
Strock said a bulldozer and other equipment from the company was used to stabilize the crane. "Otherwise, it would have been too dangerous to begin the rescue effort," he said.
The fire department sent 13 rescue workers with a fire engine, a heavy truck, saws and "jaws of life" extraction equipment.
"We also had about 15 employees from the pit helping us out. If we hadn't had their help and the use of their equipment, it would have taken much longer to get him free," Strock said.
The federal Mining Safety and Health Administration is looking into the accident.
Contact: Amy Louviere of the U.S. Department of Labor, 202-693-9423
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Eight mining operations are being honored for their outstanding safety records during 2002 in the annual Sentinels of Safety awards program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Mining Association (NMA).
"Each of these companies has truly demonstrated that safety is a value in their workplace in order to receive the department's annual Sentinels of Safety Award," said Dave D. Lauriski, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. "Through their actions and safe work practices, more miners will return home to their families at the end of every shift."
Since 1926, mining operations in various operational categories have been recognized for achieving the highest number of employee work-hours without an injury that resulted in lost time from work. To qualify for a Sentinels of Safety award, a company must compile at least 30,000 employee work-hours during the year without a lost-time injury or fatality. The Sentinels of Safety award is considered the most prestigious award in the mining industry - as well as the oldest established award for occupational safety.
MSHA comes under fire in federal report Agency criticized for not pursuing safety violations
By JAMES R. CARROLL jcarroll@... The Courier-Journal
WASHINGTON — The federal Mine Safety Administration came under attack in a government report that criticized it for not pursuing mine safety violations and for providing lax oversight of the industry.
The report issued yesterday by the General Accounting Office, the nonpartisan auditing arm of Congress, cited the following problems:
Almost half of the mine safety violations cited by agency inspectors during the past decade weren't corrected by the required deadlines.
Some mines may be operating without adequate ventilation and roof support systems because MSHA doesn't provide adequate oversight.
Inspection procedures sometimes are unclear and enforced inconsistently and information on accidents is compiled but is not being used to improve safety.
Plans for new coal slurry ponds, called impoundments, are backlogged because the agency is short on engineers and is facing a personnel crisis.
Nearly half of its inspectors will be eligible to retire in the next five years, and the agency has no plan for dealing with that — a shortage that could hamper the government's ability to ensure the health and safety of miners, the report warned.
The assessment was requested by senators after the Quecreek Mine accident in Pennsylvania in which nine miners were trapped underground for three days.
The report's findings drew sharp rebukes of MSHA from the nation's miners' union and from Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Tom Harkin of Iowa, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee's labor subcommittee.
"It's a pretty tough report. It's a bad report card on" MSHA, said Joseph Main, administrator of the United Mine Workers of America's Department of Occupational Safety and Health.
Kennedy said the GAO study "makes clear the Department of Labor is failing to meet its responsibility."
"The current agency failures are an invitation to new disasters," the senator said in a statement. "The mine agency is being overwhelmed by its mission. It can't protect miners if it fails to inspect and monitor the nation's coal mines regularly and thoroughly."
MSHA officials did not respond to the report yesterday. However, agency spokesman Rodney Brown pointed out that MSHA's chief, Dave Lauriski, answered the GAO's criticisms in mid-August.
In a letter to the GAO, Lauriski took issue with "the overall tone of the report," saying that auditors briefing his agency on the report "did not find serious deficiencies." The auditors also found, in Lauriski's words, "that MSHA is an agency with considerable strengths and accomplishments."
The GAO report comes as the rate of coal mining fatalities in the United States is rising. So far this year, 26 miners have been killed in accidents, compared with 27 for all of last year, which was a record low.
Kentucky and West Virginia lead the nation in coal mine fatalities with eight deaths each, according to MSHA statistics.
Robert Robertson, director of education, work force and income security issues for the GAO, said he believed the 51-page report "is a very balanced look at the job MSHA is doing."
The GAO study said the federal mine safety agency "devotes substantial effort to reviewing and approving mine plans." Auditors also found that MSHA has "extensive procedures for conducting inspections of mines" and inspectors are "highly trained and experienced."
However, auditors found numerous problems:
Of more than a half million citations with deadlines issued by MSHA inspectors between 1993 and 2002, 48 percent were not followed up "in a timely manner to make sure mine operators had corrected the hazards," the GAO said. Auditors found that inspectors did get back to check within a four- to 14-day range of the deadlines for most violations. However, more than 28,000 violations were unchecked beyond 14 days. Likewise, about 11,000 of the most serious safety violations weren't followed up within 14 days, the GAO said.
Lauriski responded that his agency "has taken ... measures to improve the inspectors' understanding of reasonable citation abatement times and the importance of timely follow-up."
However, due to scheduling and unforeseen circumstances, inspectors may not always be able to check back to see whether a violation has been fixed by the required deadline, he said.
MSHA headquarters does not monitor completion of inspections its district offices conduct of ventilation and roof support plans to verify that mine operators are doing what the plans required.
"As a result, some mines may be operating without adequate ventilation or roof support systems, which could directly affect the safety and health of mine workers," the GAO said.
Proper ventilation is critical in keeping harmful dust and gases away from miners. Excessive dust and gases also can lead to explosions. Roof supports are needed to prevent collapses of tunnels during mining operations.
Lauriski said his agency "conducts timely reviews" of such plans, but added that his agency's computer database is "outdated" and does not reflect how well MSHA is doing checking on plans.
Inspectors often differ on what they consider "significant and substantial" health and safety violations in the mines. Some inspection procedures aren't clear and can be hard to find because they are printed in a variety of different sources. Inspectors don't agree, for example, on what is an acceptable level of coal dust floating in the air.
Information MSHA collects on accidents is incomplete, limiting the agency's ability "to monitor trends in mine hazards and ensure that all serious accidents are investigated," auditors said. For example, MSHA knows how many miners were injured in mine-roof collapses during a certain period, but can't easily show how many accidents were caused by roof falls or how many it investigated.
Lauriski said MSHA has taken steps to clarify inspection procedures, but agreed improving inspection manuals and policies "should be a high priority."
He disputed the GAO's assessment of MSHA's data collection, saying that his agency could link information to track trends. However, he acknowledged that the current computer systems are "cumbersome" and are being rewritten to make them easier to use.
Impoundment plans are so backlogged that even the "expedited" plans are being delayed.
Most plans take two to three years for approval, and some have gone as long as five years before clearing MSHA. Many of the delays are due to inadequate staffing of engineers qualified to assess the plans, the GAO said.
Lauriski said the agency is short-handed but is planning to hire more engineers.
Forty-four percent of MSHA's 282 underground coal mine inspectors, or 123 people, are eligible to retire within five years. The agency, however, "has not developed a plan for replacing these inspectors," the GAO said.
Lauriski said MSHA does have a plan for replacing retirements — but is limited to the number of positions approved by Congress.
The GAO recommended in its report that MSHA improve its monitoring of district offices on mine plans and inspection citations, to update agency guidance to inspectors on procedures and to develop a plan for dealing with vacancies, including speeding up hiring and giving bonuses to employees who agree to stay.
Harkin said he had "serious concerns about the threat to miner safety based on what GAO found in its research."
Main said the problems the GAO identified led to accidents like the explosion at an Alabama mine in 2001 that killed 13 miners. At the time of the accident, numerous safety violations had been left uncorrected, he said.
The GAO report "validated a lot of concerns mine workers have been raising for some time" about how well MSHA is doing its job, Main said.
Officials with the National Mining Association, which represents mine operators, did not return a request for comment.
PINEVILLE - A month after an explosion damaged some ventilation equipment at the PinnOak Resources Pinnacle Mine in Wyoming County, the mine remains idle.
"We have yellow police tape up," Rodney Brown, a spokesman for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration in Arlington, Va., said. "No one can enter (without authorization). The company has to decide how to address the situation."
A jet engine is being used to speed up the reopening of the mine.
PinnOak Resources is using the engine to inject large volumes of inert gas into the mine. The goal is to drive out the oxygen and starve any fires.
The jet engine is similar to one Consol used to quell a fire in its Loveridge mine in Marion County earlier this year.
Brown, meanwhile, said the incidents described in the press as "explosions" at the mine on Sept. 1, and again on Sept. 7, were actually not big enough to be characterized as explosions.
"No one was injured," Brown said. "We had an incident involving some pops. These didn't reach a size that we would consider explosions."
The Pinnacle Mine, first developed by U.S. Steel Mining, is working a "gassy" portion of the Pocahontas No. 3 seam. The mine complex is complete with modern, state-of-the-art ventilation to remove coalbed methane from the mine. Earlier reports indicate the two earlier "pops" came as a result of the ignition of coalbed methane.
Brown said MSHA does not comment on investigations that are incomplete.
"We are conducting a full investigation that will result in a report," Brown said. "MSHA is monitoring the situation."
The state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training is also working with PinnOak engineers to resolve the situation, with plans being examined and re-examined. Deputy Director C.A. Phillips said the mine will remain closed "until we are assured that there is no carbon dioxide at all," he said.
The Doe Run Co.'s Sweetwater mine in Viburnum, Mo., was one of eight mines nationwide named the safest by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration and the National Mining Association.
The underground metal mine recorded 163,030 employee hours in 2002 without any time lost to serious injury or a fatality.
Other mines to win the safety awards were in Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, New Mexico and Wyoming.
Viburnum is 118 miles southwest of St. Louis in Iron County.
The St. Louis-based Doe Run Co. is the largest integrated lead producer in North America, the world's largest primary lead producer and the world's second-largest total lead producer. Its lead smelting and refining operations, the nation's largest, are based in Herculaneum, about 26 miles southwest of St. Louis in Jefferson County.
There are some Central ministries that do not get the attention they deserve — neither within the government nor outside. And this neglect continues in spite of their enormous potential to make a difference to the Indian economy.
The coal ministry is one of them. It presides over India’s coal industry, which is largely nationalised. Coal meets over 63 per cent of India’s energy requirements. If the power sector has to raise its generation capacity to 1,00,000 MW by 2012 (the end of the Eleventh Five-year Plan), India’s coal-mines, too, have to double their production from the current level of 310 million tonnes during this period.
Yet the only time the coal ministry appears on the front pages is when there is a cabinet reshuffle or a mine accident. It is often used to appease a disgruntled aspirant for a ministerial job. But even politicians no longer see the coal ministry as an important and glamorous portfolio.
Fortunately, the ministry has kept itself lean, with only about 450 employees, compared with, say, the civil aviation ministry (over 1,500 employees) or the department of industrial policy and promotion (about 3,400 employees).
The finance ministry has also stopped providing budgetary support to any of the coal projects being taken up by Coal India Limited (CIL), the giant public sector undertaking that accounts for 88 per cent of India’s annual coal production. Since 1997-98, CIL has been meeting its investment requirements through internal resources and borrowings.
How large is CIL’s investment requirement? The Tenth Plan, ending in 2006-07, had projected a total investment of Rs 14,310 crore in coal projects, the bulk of which will be implemented by this public sector giant. Given CIL’s overall resource constraints, the investment target is going to be difficult to meet.
Not surprisingly, CIL has embarked on a major cost-cutting drive. Already, it has reduced its staff strength to 5.2 lakh. That is a drop of about 15 per cent over its staff strength of 6.1 lakh five years ago.
This has also helped it improve productivity from 1.78 tonnes of coal output a person to 2.44 tonnes. Decontrol of coal prices in 2000 helped in a big way. It recovered from a loss of Rs 1,414 crore in 2000-01 and earned a profit of Rs 1,754 crore (before tax and dividend) in 2001-02.
All this, however, has not resolved the two most critical issues affecting CIL and the Indian coal industry’s fortunes.
One, the government has not yet found a viable solution to the three perennially loss-making subsidiaries. CIL’s profits would actually double if it were freed from the burden of absorbing the combined losses incurred by these three subsidiaries — Eastern Coalfields, Bharat Coking Coal and Central Coalfields.
There is no reason why the government should not move speedily on restructuring CIL — by first separating the three sick subsidiaries and then subjecting them to an independent and viable rehabilitation plan. If these subsidiaries need to be liquidated, the government should move on that proposal as well.
The simple point is CIL’s resources should not be used to finance the losses of these three sick units. Instead, these resources should be used for setting up new viable coal projects.
Two, the government has so far dilly-dallied on its proposal to allow private investment in coal-mining. Twice, a Bill to amend the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 and allow private investment in coal mining was cleared by the Union Cabinet — once in February 1997 and again in February 1999.
The first Cabinet clearance, by the United Front government, evoked massive protests from the trade union leaders and the government developed cold feet because it was readying to face general elections. The second Cabinet clearance, by the BJP-led coalition government, resulted in the Bill’s introduction in the Rajya Sabha in April 2000.
But the Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Energy of Parliament in view of the protests by trade union leaders and some political parties. The Standing Committee also approved the Bill in its report submitted to Parliament in August 2001.
The Bill is still pending in the Rajya Sabha. A group of ministers has been reconstituted to address the concerns expressed by trade union leaders. No one knows when and how soon the group of ministers will meet the trade union leaders and remove their doubts.
Trade union leaders fear that permitting private investment in coal mining will pave the way for privatising CIL. Thanks to the Supreme Court verdict on HPCL’s privatisation, the group of ministers can now at least assure the trade union leaders that CIL cannot be privatised unless a specific piece of legislation to de-nationalise the public sector giant is passed by Parliament.
Meanwhile, private investment in coal-mining can be permitted to help achieve the ambitious target of doubling coal production in the next ten years.
China to launch first manned spaceship within days By TIM JOHNSON Knight Ridder Newspapers
BEIJING - China is expected to launch an astronaut or two into outer space within days, a "great leap skyward" that will have economic, military and perhaps even diplomatic repercussions.
China confidently predicts that it soon will join the United States and Russia, the former Soviet Union, as the only nations able to send humans into the heavens.
Chinese state-run media say a launch will occur this month, perhaps within days, and companies already are using images of the Shenzhou V - or "divine vessel" - spaceship as marketing tools. Observers expect an outpouring of national pride.
"If this is successful, you will see a lot of people in Tiananmen Square waving Chinese flags," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert in Chinese space technology at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I.
The Shenzhou V mission also will help boost China's ability to gather intelligence from the skies.
"China has watched the U.S. exploit space in all its recent wars, and feels that a space component is essential to a modern armed forces," Morris Jones, an Australian space analyst, said in an e-mail interview.
The manned Shenzhou spacecraft probably will carry two military payloads, one for electronic intelligence-gathering and the other a camera system for photographic reconnaissance, said Phillip S. Clark, a specialist in the Chinese space program and a consultant to the British defense ministry.
The two systems are part of a module that will detach from the Shenzhou and remain in orbit six to eight months, sending intelligence home every time it passes over China, allowing the Chinese to track movements of the U.S. Navy anywhere around the globe. China is particularly interested in U.S. naval forces in the vicinity of Taiwan, which it claims is part of its territory.
A similar electronic-intelligence package went up on the unmanned Shenzhou IV spacecraft launched last December, and orbited the Earth for months.
"Observations by Shenzhou IV during the Iraq war would have been an intelligence windfall for the Chinese," Mark Wade, a space analyst, wrote last week on the Web site www.spacedaily.com.
China's manned space mission - 800 years after Chinese inventors came up with the "gunpowder rocket" - will kick off an ambitious multipronged program that includes an orbiting space station, and a mission to the moon by 2020, possibly to mine minerals for China's nuclear energy industry.
Launching a manned spacecraft increases the cost of China's space program by a factor of 10 because of the need to build multiple emergency systems to avert possible disaster, Johnson-Freese said.
China's annual space budget is $2.2 billion, compared with NASA's $15 billion. The U.S. space shuttle program has been grounded since the Columbia disaster last February.
Chinese leaders expect a vigorous space program to stimulate aerospace and computer industries, create spin-off commercial benefits and boost domestic pride at a time when the nation's one-party communist leadership confronts multiple social and economic challenges.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency said 3,000 factories and "tens of thousands" of workers provided equipment and know-how for the space program.
The identities of the 14 astronauts in training are a secret. Chinese officials have described them as shorter than 5 feet 7, 143 pounds or lighter and younger than 30. Chinese media refer to them as "yuhangyuan," or space navigators.
While the Shenzhou missions technically are cloaked by military secrecy, under the purview of the 2nd Artillery Corps, China has offered a surprising amount of information about them. The Shenzhou V is nearly 22 feet long, weighs about 8 tons and carries two pairs of solar panels. It has three modules and resembles the Russian-built Soyuz space capsule in appearance, but not necessarily in technology.
"Inside, it is a completely Chinese vehicle," said Clark, the Chinese space program specialist.
Chinese scientists shopping abroad in the 1990s bought Russian technology for life-support systems and docking stations. They developed their own expertise in miniaturization, communication and other computational technologies, experts said.
"The Chinese could end up surpassing the Russians, but that's because the Russian budget problems mean that their program is in decline," Clark said.
The former Soviet Union was the first nation to launch a human into orbit, on April 12, 1961. The United States followed on Feb. 20, 1962.
For the upcoming launch, China is deploying ships to the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans to follow the Shenzhou V along its orbital path. The Chinese also staff a permanent tracking station in Namibia, in southern Africa, where they will guide the Shenzhou V in braking maneuvers as it prepares for a landing in Inner Mongolia.
The manned mission is scheduled to lift off in daylight, unlike the liftoffs of four earlier unmanned Shenzhou missions.
"They are certainly taking quite a gamble on being so open about this. I think they are quite confident the machine will work," Sven Grahn, an aerospace expert who follows the Chinese program, said in a telephone interview from Sweden.
Durban, South Africa - Experts from Sasol have begun the long process of recovering the body of Elvis Bonginkosi Khanyile, who was buried under a 5 000 ton rock fall at the Springlake Colliery in northern KwaZulu-Natal on September 18.
Tunnelling to reach the body started on the weekend after drilling equipment was flown in by Sasol, which operates a voluntary service. While it is still unclear how long the search will take, about 2 000 tons have already been removed.
Springlake management said a team of volunteers, including the victim's colleagues, Sasol experts and mine management, had begun supporting and rehabilitating the accident area and had reached an exposed back of a corner of the scoop machine Khanyile was driving.
"This is an arduous and slow process and the mine is working on a 24-hour shift basis to complete the recovery," Mark Snelling, Springlake Colliery's director, said yesterday.
The three sections of the single-shaft mine, which is owned by Toronto-listed AfriOre, were closed by the Dundee department of minerals and energy last week because an investigation by the mine health and safety inspectorate showed that geological conditions were similar to those in the area where the accident occurred.
However, mine management met the department on Monday following the submission of a joint report on the accident by the management, the workforce and union representatives, to seek an urgent review of the stop order, which is costing the mine R370 000 a day.
The risk management committee has concluded that the remaining work areas, which are remote from the accident site, were safe to be reopened.
The colliery, which provides 100 underground jobs, had sent affected workers home on paid leave, but open cast mining has continued.
The final cost to the company is expected to amount to millions of rands as the mine extracts about 500 000 tons of anthracite a year, 80 percent of which is exported to Europe and Brazil.
Snelling said everything possible had been done to ensure that no more lives were lost.
The delay in recovering the body had been caused by the need to stabilise the dangerous conditions in the area. Sensenzi Zokwana, the president of the National Union of Mineworkers, said the accident drove home the importance of ensuring that employers complied with the Health and Safety Act.
"The safety of our members must remain as paramount to employers as the production of coal," he said.
Zokwana warned that occurrences such as these would continue unless employers assessed risk reports with the union's health and safety committees to ensure that hanging walls remained safe.
Snelling said the mine had an excellent safety record.
"During the past 12 years there has been only one fatality and seven reportable accidents due to rock falls, and the department of minerals and energy has recognised the colliery's safety standards and environmental protection with several awards in recent years," Snelling said. The colliery, which provides 100 underground jobs, had sent affected workers home on paid leave, but open cast mining has continued.
The final cost to the company is expected to amount to millions of rands as the mine extracts about 500 000 tons of anthracite a year, 80 percent of which is exported to Europe and Brazil.
Snelling said everything possible had been done to ensure that no more lives were lost.
The delay in recovering the body had been caused by the need to stabilise the dangerous conditions in the area. Sensenzi Zokwana, the president of the National Union of Mineworkers, said the accident drove home the importance of ensuring that employers complied with the Health and Safety Act.
"The safety of our members must remain as paramount to employers as the production of coal," he said.
Zokwana warned that occurrences such as these would continue unless employers assessed risk reports with the union's health and safety committees to ensure that hanging walls remained safe.
Snelling said the mine had an excellent safety record.
"During the past 12 years there has been only one fatality and seven reportable accidents due to rock falls, and the department of minerals and energy has recognised the colliery's safety standards and environmental protection with several awards in recent years," Snelling said.
For the fourth time in a decade, a Mississippi Chemical Corporation (BB: MSPI) potash mine in Carlsbad was named one of the safest in the nation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration and the National Mining Association.
The annual Sentinels of Safety awards program, co-sponsored by the administration and mining association, was started in 1925 by then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and is considered the highest honor in occupational safety. To qualify for the award, a mine must complete at least 30,000 employee work-hours during a year without a lost-time injury or fatality.
The West Mine in Carlsbad, owned by Mississippi Chemical's wholly-owned subsidiary, Mississippi Potash Inc., recorded 263,371 employee hours in 2002 without any time lost to serious injury or a fatality.
"It's quite an honor to receive this award," says Melinda Hood, spokeswoman for Mississippi Chemical Corporation. "Safety is a major responsibility of ours and we have a commitment to make sure our employees go home safely to their families at the end of the work day."
Mississippi Potash Inc. produces 1.83 million tons of potash fertilizer annually at its three plant sites in Hobbs and Carlsbad. Mississippi Potash Inc. employs about 500 people in New Mexico and Texas.
Founded in 1948, Mississippi Chemical Corporation produces nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium products used as crop nutrients and industrial applications. Net sales for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, were about $451.3 million, compared with $540.4 million during the same period last year.
Mine shaft collapses in Sebastopol College grounds By Katie Maheras Wednesday, 8 October 2003
SEBASTOPOL, AU - College students were given a history lesson of a different kind yesterday when a 138-year-old mine shaft opened on their school grounds.
The mine shaft - the Band of Hope and Albion Consols Company number three shaft - was sunk in 1865 and is 128 metres deep.
It was one of 11 Band of Hope and Albion Consols Company mine shafts.
Almost 41,000 ounces of gold were pulled from the shaft.
Yesterday the mine shaft, which ceased operation in 1876, opened near the school's tennis courts. The move burst a water pipe and left a large crater in the ground. The crater measured about six metres wide and two metres deep.
Sebastopol College principal Garry Taylor yesterday said the reopening of the mine shaft was a historic moment for both the school and Ballarat.
Mr Taylor said the hole had grown from about one metre wide on Monday to six metres yesterday. The drought combined with recent rain was believed to have caused the collapse, he said.
"We've always known that there's been a mine shaft in the area," he said.
"In March last year there was a drop in the level of one of the tennis courts, so we assumed it was there. This is about 10 metres away from the original depression.
"It's quite interesting - a bit of old history has resurfaced here."
Mr Taylor said a safety fence had been erected around the mine shaft and representatives from the Education Department and Primary Industries Department had inspected the area.
Civil engineers would today examine the mine shaft to determine the next course of action, he said.
"The civil engineers will take a look at it tomorrow and we will rely on their advice," he said.
"It will most likely require filling in, but how best that is done, we'll just have to wait and see."
Ballarat Goldfields senior project geologist Peter D'Auvergne yesterday said mine shafts were known to open unexpectedly.
"Often if it's a timber deck, which was usually the case, with time that rots away and when that happens there's nothing there to stop the soil on top of the cap from falling in," Mr D'Auvergne said.
"It's not a frequent occurrence, but they are alive.
"Unfortunately, we don't know where a lot of them are until they do open up."
The mine shaft at Sebastopol College is the third to reopen in Ballarat in the past two years.
Last October, an undocumented mine shaft opened in Ford St. It was believed to be part of the Black Hill lead. In August, 2001, a Golden Point resident discovered a mine shaft under his bedroom when galvanised pipes burst at his Barkly St home.
SILT, CO — AL Amundson directed reflected sunlight via a hand mirror into a mine shaft belching with smoke and steam Wednesday, and liked what he saw.
“It looks like it’s bridging off,” he said with hope in his voice.
He had labored over the previous days with pick and shovel, dumping debris into the hole to try to form a bridge base that would support a grout plug of the shaft.
Amundson is an environmental protection specialist with the state Division of Minerals and Geology. He’s overseeing an effort to extinguish or at least cool off an underground coal mine fire burning in the Grand Hogback, just below Harvey Gap Reservoir.
Part of the effort involves trying to choke off the fire by plugging shafts, like the one he was inspecting Wednesday.
Amundson had counted on taking advantage of a bridge of earth inside the shaft to support grout being pumped in from the surface. But that initial attempt to seal off the shaft met with failure as the bridge collapsed.
“We put nine trucks of grout into it and it just all disappeared,” he said.
That’s about 80 cubic yards of fly ash, cement and water gone down the drain, into the intricate internal plumbing of Grand Hogback, long a tricky place for mine engineers trying to fight underground fires.
Small but not simple
Amundson expects the state to spend about $158,000 on the Harvey Gap project, which he said is “a really small job” compared to others that have been attempted along the Hogback. The project is taking just a few weeks, compared to others that can last months or even years.
But even this relatively minor project is far from simple or easy.
Contractors have laid plastic piping from the reservoir several hundred feet down the Harvey Gap Road, and then from a water tank 300 vertical feet up a steep hill to the burning coal.
On a daily basis they hump tools and materials up to the work site, grabbing installed cable lines to make the slippery scramble up a little easier.
Up top, snakes that occasionally slither among the rocks and juniper trees are the least of their concerns. The threat of the ground collapsing into the acrid-smelling voids underground, or a blast of steam exploding out of the ground, are greater perils.
That’s why the state is trying to quench mine fires such as the one at Harvey Gap.
Amundson said people have been poking around the holes he’s working to plug. Temperatures inside are as high as 800 degrees, and the fires are consuming what oxygen is inside.
“So if you aren’t killed by the fall, you’d be suffocated,” Amundson said.
Another motivation for fighting these mine fires is the danger of them igniting a surface blaze, as happened with the 2002 Coal Seam Fire in South Canyon. Pushed by high winds, the fire raced toward West Glenwood and claimed 29 homes.
The state has been doing exploratory drilling in South Canyon in hopes of better sizing up the underground fire there and determining how to fight it.
Amundson said plans for the Harvey Gap mine fire work already were in the works before last year, but the Coal Seam Fire created a new sense of urgency.
Before working on the Harvey Gap mine fire itself, crews cleared away flammable vegetation nearby, to reduce the chance of a wildfire being started by the fire.
A deadly explosion?
Workers have learned more recently that the fire may have been started by a mine explosion in the mid-1920s. Amundson said a Silt Mesa man in his mid 70s stopped by and told them the blast happened just before he was born, killing one miner, and that his parents warned him as he was growing up about the danger of playing around the burning mine.
The timing of the man’s account squares with the fact that the last map Amundson can find for the mine is dated 1923.
Underground coal fires have occurred long before people began coal mining. Amundson said brush fires, lightning and spontaneous combustion can ignite a fire that burns underground. Red patches of soil within sight of the current Harvey Gap fire stand as evidence of other places where fires have superheated the ground, he said.
The geology of the Grand Hogback is conducive to such fires. When the Hogback formed, fractures in the rock created airways to feed fires. The Hogback’s vertical nature makes these airways natural chimneys that draw in oxygen to keep fires going.
Over time, nature can put out these fires by smothering them. Rocks come to rest on top of vents where air is sucked underground, or moisture causes soils to shift and settle until they choke off an air supply.
“Part of what we’re doing is trying to apply how nature shuts these things off,” Amundson said.
Crews have been cooling the fire by pumping water down holes — as much as 150 gallons per minute — while injecting grout where possible to choke off the air supply.
Amundson hopes this approach will keep costs reasonable for the kind of project that can threaten to burn up money, as it were, as with the grout lost to the troublesome shaft with the collapsing bridge.
To deal with that shaft, the crew fashioned a makeshift plug that would hold grout. They formed metal mesh fencing into the shape of a tube, closed off on the bottom end, and inserted it into the hole, while anchoring it to the surface.
After lining the mesh with a durable fabric, they filled a one-ton feed sack with grout and stuck it into the bottom of the tube, plugging the shaft enough to enable them to effectively seal the rest of it with grout.
That may take care of one place where the mine fire had access to surface air.
“Unfortunately, there’s probably a lot of intakes,” Amundson said, before turning back to the job of trying to figure out how to deal with them.
Fitting I guess, the US put a man in space before the Mine Act. fv
-----Original Message----- From: Rob McGee [mailto:usmra@...] Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 9:40 AM To: minerescue@yahoogroups.com Subject: [USMRA] China to launch first manned spaceship within days
Posted on Tue, Oct. 07, 2003
China to launch first manned spaceship within days By TIM JOHNSON Knight Ridder Newspapers
BEIJING - China is expected to launch an astronaut or two into outer space within days, a "great leap skyward" that will have economic, military and perhaps even diplomatic repercussions.
China confidently predicts that it soon will join the United States and Russia, the former Soviet Union, as the only nations able to send humans into the heavens.
Chinese state-run media say a launch will occur this month, perhaps within days, and companies already are using images of the Shenzhou V - or "divine vessel" - spaceship as marketing tools. Observers expect an outpouring of national pride.
"If this is successful, you will see a lot of people in Tiananmen Square waving Chinese flags," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert in Chinese space technology at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I.
The Shenzhou V mission also will help boost China's ability to gather intelligence from the skies.
"China has watched the U.S. exploit space in all its recent wars, and feels that a space component is essential to a modern armed forces," Morris Jones, an Australian space analyst, said in an e-mail interview.
The manned Shenzhou spacecraft probably will carry two military payloads, one for electronic intelligence-gathering and the other a camera system for photographic reconnaissance, said Phillip S. Clark, a specialist in the Chinese space program and a consultant to the British defense ministry.
The two systems are part of a module that will detach from the Shenzhou and remain in orbit six to eight months, sending intelligence home every time it passes over China, allowing the Chinese to track movements of the U.S. Navy anywhere around the globe. China is particularly interested in U.S. naval forces in the vicinity of Taiwan, which it claims is part of its territory.
A similar electronic-intelligence package went up on the unmanned Shenzhou IV spacecraft launched last December, and orbited the Earth for months.
"Observations by Shenzhou IV during the Iraq war would have been an intelligence windfall for the Chinese," Mark Wade, a space analyst, wrote last week on the Web site www.spacedaily.com.
China's manned space mission - 800 years after Chinese inventors came up with the "gunpowder rocket" - will kick off an ambitious multipronged program that includes an orbiting space station, and a mission to the moon by 2020, possibly to mine minerals for China's nuclear energy industry.
Launching a manned spacecraft increases the cost of China's space program by a factor of 10 because of the need to build multiple emergency systems to avert possible disaster, Johnson-Freese said.
China's annual space budget is $2.2 billion, compared with NASA's $15 billion. The U.S. space shuttle program has been grounded since the Columbia disaster last February.
Chinese leaders expect a vigorous space program to stimulate aerospace and computer industries, create spin-off commercial benefits and boost domestic pride at a time when the nation's one-party communist leadership confronts multiple social and economic challenges.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency said 3,000 factories and "tens of thousands" of workers provided equipment and know-how for the space program.
The identities of the 14 astronauts in training are a secret. Chinese officials have described them as shorter than 5 feet 7, 143 pounds or lighter and younger than 30. Chinese media refer to them as "yuhangyuan," or space navigators.
While the Shenzhou missions technically are cloaked by military secrecy, under the purview of the 2nd Artillery Corps, China has offered a surprising amount of information about them. The Shenzhou V is nearly 22 feet long, weighs about 8 tons and carries two pairs of solar panels. It has three modules and resembles the Russian-built Soyuz space capsule in appearance, but not necessarily in technology.
"Inside, it is a completely Chinese vehicle," said Clark, the Chinese space program specialist.
Chinese scientists shopping abroad in the 1990s bought Russian technology for life-support systems and docking stations. They developed their own expertise in miniaturization, communication and other computational technologies, experts said.
"The Chinese could end up surpassing the Russians, but that's because the Russian budget problems mean that their program is in decline," Clark said.
The former Soviet Union was the first nation to launch a human into orbit, on April 12, 1961. The United States followed on Feb. 20, 1962.
For the upcoming launch, China is deploying ships to the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans to follow the Shenzhou V along its orbital path. The Chinese also staff a permanent tracking station in Namibia, in southern Africa, where they will guide the Shenzhou V in braking maneuvers as it prepares for a landing in Inner Mongolia.
The manned mission is scheduled to lift off in daylight, unlike the liftoffs of four earlier unmanned Shenzhou missions.
"They are certainly taking quite a gamble on being so open about this. I think they are quite confident the machine will work," Sven Grahn, an aerospace expert who follows the Chinese program, said in a telephone interview from Sweden.
We also read this week that the Chinese coal mining industry made a record profit of Ł280 million,,,, yet still managed over 5000 fatalities.
Well over time to put some of that profit into safety.
Assistant Secretary of Interior Will Visit Award-Winning Fayette County Mine Site
10/8/03 1:37:00 PM
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Mike Gauldin, 202-208-2565, mgauldin@..., or Joan Moody, 202-208-3280, both of the U.S. Department of the Interior
News Advisory:
Bridgeview Coal Company's Schmunk Mine in Farmington, Pa., was recently recognized with one of the first "Good Neighbor" awards presented by the US Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining.
On Friday, Oct. 10, at 10 a.m., reporters are invited to accompany Lynn Scarlett, assistant secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management and Budget, when she visits Fayette county to get a first-hand look at Bridgeview's formula for community success.
Scarlett serves as the principal policy advisor for Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and discharges the authority of the Secretary for all phases of management and administrative activities including the budget, environmental affairs, and personnel.
OSM Director Jeff Jarrett created the "Good Neighbor " awards to recognize coal companies who have excelled in working cooperatively to address the needs and concerns of their neighboring communities. The first three national "Good Neighbor" awards were presented this year.
WHO:
-- Lynn Scarlett, assistant secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management and Budget
-- Scott Whyel, president, Bridgeview Coal Company
WHAT: Tour of "Good Neighbor" award-winning Schmunk mine
WHEN: 10 a.m., Oct. 10
WHERE: 3735 National Pike Rd., Farmington (see directions, next page)
WHY: Bridgeview Coal Company won the award because between 1988 and 2000, the company mined and reclaimed just over 800 acres that is now actively farmed just as it was before mining. The company and community worked together on several projects:
A dangerously twisting township road was changed to a safe road.
The company donated a water truck to the local fire department and built a stock car racetrack that is the principle source of fund raising for the fire department.
A ball field was constructed at the local park, and the company made their excavators and loader available for township use.
A safe shooting range was built for a near-by hunting and shooting club.
Culverts and drainpipes were installed, and township roads resurfaced.
The Bridgeview Coal Company, with community cooperation, mined the coal and reclaimed the land to the highest standards. And, throughout the operation the coal company was an integral part of the community.
DIRECTIONS: 3735 National Pike Rd., Farmington, Fairview Township, Fayette county Intersection of Rt. 40 and Rt. 381. Arrive before 10 a.m. Tour will leave office at 10 a.m. for Schmunk mine.
From Uniontown, take Rt. 40 about 12 miles to intersection of 381 and 40 in Farmington, From west of Pittsburgh, take I-79 south, I-70 east (turnpike) 43 south, 40 east to Farmington, Pa.
From east of Pittsburgh, take Rt. 51 south to Uniontown, then Rt. 40 east to Farmington, Pa.
Gold Mine Accident Kills 2, Injures 5 October 09, 2003 12:54:00 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two workers were killed, five were injured and six were missing in Indonesia after a section of the world's largest gold mine collapsed Thursday, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) said.
Freeport spokesman Bill Collier said the workers were killed when a section of the open-pit Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia -- essentially a massive, terraced bowl carved into the ground -- collapsed onto workers in the pit. The Grasberg deposit, discovered by Freeport in 1988, has the world's largest gold reserves and the third-largest copper reserves.
The landslide will likely result in the deferral of some output from the fourth quarter into 2004, but New Orleans-based Freeport said it does not expect any impact on the mine's long-term plans.
The company also said third-quarter copper and gold sales will exceed previous estimates. Copper sales for the third quarter reached about 345 million pounds, about 25 million pounds higher than previously estimated. Gold sales reached 764,000 ounces, about 120,000 ounces higher than expected.
Year-to-date, the company said it has completed 80 percent of its copper sales goals and 85 percent of targeted gold sales.
Freeport, which has 18,000 employees, said its safety record is better than average among U.S. and international mining companies. Last year Freeport's lost-time-injury rate per 200,000 hours worked was 0.25, well below the U.S. industry average rate of 2.10 in 2001
BEIJING (AP) - An underground flood in a coal mine in central China trapped 18 miners, the official Xinhua News Agency said Friday.
Rescuers who could hear tapping underground were trying to reach the miners in the Changda mine in Dengfeng, a city in Henan province, Xinhua reported.
It said the mine flooded at about 2:40 a.m. on Thursday, according to Xinhua.
China has the world's deadliest mining industry, with 4,150 deaths reported in the first eight months of this year in explosions, floods and cave-ins.
Many occur in smaller, private mines and are blamed on lack of fire and ventilation equipment or indifference to safety rules.
Despite government pledges to crack down, a top industrial safety official said last month that the death toll this year was expected to match that of last year.
Coal mine explosion kills four workers in Zonguldak
Thursday, October 09 2003 @ 08:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time Turkey
An explosion rocks a coal mine in northern Zonguldak killing four workers and injuring one ZONGULDAK (AA) - An explosion rocked a coal mine on Thursday in northern Zonguldak province killing four workers and injuring another one.
Three workers who wanted to rescue their friends were poisoned from the gas leaking from the mine. The explosion took place in a private coal mine in Kilimli hamlet due to an unknown reason. An investigation into the explosion is underway.
18 miners have 'good' chance of being saved ( 2003-10-11 01:47) (China Daily)
Eighteen miners were still trapped underground on Friday night following the flooding of a coal mine in the city of Dengfeng in Central China's Henan Province, the local coal mine administrative authority told China Daily.
But the chances of rescuing the miners are quite good, an official said on Friday.
The accident happened at 2:40 pm on Thursday, in the Changda mine, 200 metres underground.
Other miners narrowly escaped when they heard the sound of water leaking and rushed out of the dangerous pit in less than 10 minutes.
Representatives of the Henan Provincial Bureau of Coal Mine Safety and other provincial departments rushed to the site to supervise the rescue operations, said the official, who refused to be named. Different rescue measures were being discussed and implemented to rescue the miners underground, he said.
Around 200 rescue workers have been deployed and water pumps have been used to remove water from the mine.
A tunnel was being dug towards the location of the trapped miners.
The miners underground were safe and healthy on Friday evening at press time, according to the official. They were in a tunnel above the water.
The official said the chances of rescuing the miners were quite good. If the digging work goes to plan, they should come out of the pit on Sunday.
The investigation into the cause of the flooding was still under way on Friday. But it was clear that the floodwater had rushed from an abandoned pit located above the pit where the miners were trapped.
The quantity of water in the abandoned pit had been measured before the new pit was dug and the quantity was believed insufficient to cause flooding.
"Our only concern is the miners' oxygen supply underground,'' said the official.
ZHENGZHOU, Oct. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The search for 18 trapped miners in a flooded coal mine in Dengfeng City of central China's Henan Province has turned up four bodies, as 200 rescuers continue to look for survivors.
Rescuers have dug a channel to reach the trapped miners in Changda coal mine but their fate is still unknown, said Zhou Zhenxiu, director of the Work Safety Bureau of Dengfeng City.
"The situation inside was more complex than we had expected," Zhou said, adding that thick gas and alluvial coal inside had hampered the rescue efforts.
The rescuers are still 30 meters away from the trapped miners as work continues to clear the shaft and pipes are sent underground to provide fresh air, he said.
A team of 700 rescuers has been working hard in shifts since the miners were trapped underground at 2:40 p.m. Thursday.
Zhou said it would take another two to three days to reach other miners as the safety of rescuers must be a priority given the dense gas inside. The possibility for the miners to survive was slim, he added.
The flooded Changda coal mine began operation in 1997 and had no legal license, according to sources with the rescue team.
It was the second coal mine accident in three months in Dengfeng. The first accident occurred at Dengfeng coal mine in Baiping township on July 13, killing 21 workers.
NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists have been accumulating evidence in lab animals for years that a pill might be able to reduce the damage loud noise does to a person's hearing. Now they're sending in the Marines.
Starting in a few months, a group of 600 Marines at Camp Pendleton in California will face rifle training with not only foam plugs in their ears, but also a drink that tastes very much like Wild Berry Zinger herbal tea.
They'll take it with every meal during their two weeks of the noisy training, an experience that normally erodes a bit of hearing ability from about 10 percent of trainees. And if all goes as hoped, hearing tests will show that a substance dissolved in the drink made a difference.
It's the latest wrinkle in research toward finding a pill that will help protect and even treat hearing loss from exposure to loud noise. While the effort is hardly new, experts say it has picked up momentum in the past few years.
Nobody is saying such a pill could replace earplugs and other mechanical ear protection. But it's clear that the standard protections so far haven't prevented a wide-ranging problem.
Noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most common occupational diseases and the second most self-reported occupational illness or injury, the federal government says.
About 10 million Americans have permanent hearing loss from loud noise, either a long-term exposure or in a sudden burst such as an explosion. And an estimated 30 million people are thought to be exposed to hazardous levels of noise at work, such as in mining, construction, manufacturing and agriculture.
Professional musicians must take care as well. Jim tenBensel, a freelance musician in Minneapolis, packs a pair of earplugs in his trombone case. Not long ago, during a big-band-style performance when he wasn't wearing them, he found himself ducking and putting his hands over his ears when a trumpet behind him started wailing.
"It hurt," recalled Mr. Ken Bensel, 62. "It was just a knee-jerk reaction."
The problem isn't just in the workplace. Hobbies such as recreational shooting, motorcycling and snowmobiling pose a risk, too.
Earplugs and specialized sound-deadening earmuffs are clearly helpful, but they're not always enough. Some sounds overwhelm them. Some people don't wear them when they should, and other people are unusually susceptible to hearing damage.
"Noise-induced hearing loss is such a common cause of hearing loss, and we haven't been very effective in ways to manage it," said Sharon Kujawa, director of audiology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
"For as much government regulation as we have for noise exposure on the job, it's a very difficult thing to get people to comply, and also to carry that out in their leisure activities," she said.
Scientists have pursued a variety of approaches toward an ear-fortifying pill. In 1994, for example, Israeli researchers reported that magnesium supplements helped military recruits avoid hearing loss over two months of noisy basic training. These days, much of the work focuses on antioxidants, the chemical class that most famously includes vitamins C and E.
Immigrant Miners File Complaints Against Kingstons Oct. 12, 2003
HUNTINGTON, Utah (AP) -- A miner who claims he was fired for trying to organize a union is leading a charge against the polygamous Kingston family's Co-op Mining, which he says is mistreating immigrant workers.
Bill Estrada, who spent a year digging coal at the Co-op Mine for less than $6 an hour, now spends six hours a day on a picket line at a junction where the mine's access road branches off from state Road 31 in Huntington Canyon.
Estrada, who said Co-op fired him late last month for trying to organize a union, said he is supported by about 75 fellow miners.
The company maintains Estrada was insubordinate after being caught falsifying a safety inspection record.
Charles Reynolds, personnel manager for CW Mining Co., the company's formal name, denied Co-op was taking advantage of the miners, most of whom are from Sinaloa in west-central Mexico. "Our company does not discriminate in our hiring in any way. We employ both Hispanic-Americans and anyone else who applies for a job, when we have an available opening," he said.
The miners' case is being investigated by the National Labor Relations Board at the request of the United Mine Workers of America.
The UMWA filed a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board on Sept. 23, accusing Co-op of intimidation and coercion in firing an employee for promoting unionization and creating a sham union controlled by the company. The grievance seeks immediate reinstatement of the miners with back pay.
Denver-based NLRB investigator Daniel Robles spent three days in Carbon and Emery counties a week ago, interviewing miners and company officials about the dispute. His boss, assistant regional director Wayne Benson, said that "because a lot of people have lost their jobs and these are important issues, we're giving it our utmost attention." He expects a ruling by mid-November.
Reynolds said he was limited in how much he can say until the NLRB makes a decision.
But in comments to The Salt Lake Tribune and a letter to the Price Sun-Advocate, he said the International Association of United Workers union is legitimate and that the company offers health insurance through Ensign Company Group Health Plan to its employees although not all take advantage of it.
He also said that seemingly low hourly wages are boosted upward with supplementary pay for jobs well done and performance bonuses, that female employees have access to separate restrooms and bathing facilities and that the company abides by federal and state safety regulations.
Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration records support his last point, showing injury incidence levels at Co-op mines that are below the national average.
Longtime UMWA International board member Mike Dalpiaz, Helper's former mayor, said that because of suspicions about the family's operations, "we are going to open this up and see what the Kingstons are doing on different playing fields. Somebody has to put an end to this."
Estrada said the fight had nothing to do with the family's polygamy "but because of what they do at this mine. We want what's fair at that mine."
Estrada said he heard grumbling about the low wages (average pay for a Utah coal miner is $21 per hour), lack of benefits and potentially dangerous working conditions from the day he started as a miner's helper. He said the mine's union, the International Association of United Workers, was a company concoction designed to preclude employees from airing legitimate grievances.
Estrada joined a group that met in late August with UMWA labor organizer Jim Stevenson, who urged the group to keep a low profile while electing a "leadership committee" that could advise workers of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
"They learned very quickly," Stevenson said.
The miners claim that when they came to Estrada's defense, a foreman told them they were all fired. When some tried to return to work the next morning, only a handful of employees on a company checklist were allowed onto the property.
Reynolds said he knew nothing of any organizing activity, and that the employees "simply walked off the job and have not returned."
BUTTE - Montana Tech is offering a 15-week mine training program, with tuition, room, board and equipment provided for workers who have been displaced from other industries.
The school said graduates will be eligible for mine apprentice programs with salaries starting at about $40,000.
Officials said pay could exceed $70,000 after apprenticeship is completed.
Program Director Robert Cronoble said 80 percent of the program is hands-on and happens underground in Butte.
The rest of the time is spent in class covering topics such as first aid, underground fire control and ventilation.
Cronoble said several employers have expressed interest in the program, including the Stillwater Mine near Absarokee and mines in Idaho and Nevada.
BEIJING (AFP) - China has banned coal-fire power plants in the capital Beijing and other major cities -- a long-awaited move expected to reduce chronic air pollution and acid rain, state press reported Thursday.
The plants have been banned in Beijing, Shanghai and 21 provincial capitals, the China Daily said.
The cities are responsible for some 60 percent of China's sulphur dioxide emissions.
In other big and medium-sized cities, thermo-electric projects approved under national energy polices must meet environmental protection standards, the report said, citing State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) guidelines.
Sulphur dioxide is the leading cause of acid rain, which occurs over one-third of China, the report said.
According to SEPA statistics, coal-fire power stations in China emitted more than 6.6 million tons of sulfphur dioxide in 2002, some 33 percent of China's sulfphur dioxide emissions, it said.
Meanwhile desulfphurization projects are being carried out at 137 coal-fire plants across the country and are slated to be completed by 2005, it said.
According to the new guidelines, desulfphurization equipment will be required at all new coal-fire power projects that get state approval.
China orders stepped-up emissions controls at coal-fired power plants
Thursday, October 09, 2003
By Associated Press
BEIJING — China has ordered coal-fired power plants in Beijing and other main cities to install emissions controls to cut down on the release of harmful sulfur dioxide, the official China Daily newspaper reported Thursday.
New requirements released this week by the State Environmental Protection Administration also apply to plants in Shanghai, China's business hub and largest city, and 21 other metropolises, the paper said.
Together with Beijing, those cities account for 60 percent of the country's total sulfur dioxide emissions from coal, vehicle exhaust, and industrial pollution.
If enforced, the regulations could substantially raise costs for producers in China's booming energy market. Most of China's coal is high in sulfur and emissions require substantial treatment to extract the most dangerous pollutants.
China Daily didn't say what sort of reductions were being ordered or when equipment would have to be installed. But it said some emissions reduction equipment must be installed in 137 "key plants" by 2005. China has set a target date of 2005 for reducing sulfur dioxide emissions by 20 percent against the level in 2000.
Equipment must be installed on both existing plants seeking to expand and new ones being built, the paper said. Plants in the China's less-developed west would also have to install emissions controls, it said, without giving details.
It said coal-fired plants are responsible for about one-third of China's total emissions of 6.6 million metric tons (7.3 million U.S. tons) of sulfur dioxide last year.
Sulfur dioxide creates ozone and a visible haze and can cause respiratory problems and permanently damage lung tissues. It's also a component of acid rain, which harms streams and lakes and affects soil and vegetation.
Acid rain now affects one-third of China's territory, China Daily said.
Two decades of rapid economic development have left China's cities and much of the countryside cloaked in a haze of pollution, causing a rise in respiratory diseases and other illnesses. A sharp rise in private car ownership has added increased levels of vehicle exhaust to the mix.
In recent years, the government has tried to ameliorate the situation through legislation. One plan calls for an overall 10 percent reduction in all pollutants by 2005 against the 2000 level.
Hopes fade for 14 trapped miners ( 2003-10-14 16:43) (Xinhua)
Hopes faded Monday as the attempt to rescue 14 trapped miners from a flooded coal mine in Dengfeng City, central China's Henan Province, was hampered by dense gas inside.
The four miners whose bodies were found Sunday afternoon were identified as Li Gen, Wang Guoyi, Wang Deren and Zhang Aiguo, all migrant workers from Dengfeng or neighboring Ruzhou city, an official said.
The chances of survival for the remaining 14 trapped miners were already very slim as the Changda coal mine was flooded at about 2"Rescuers were hampered twice Monday by the dense gas inside the mine and they resumed the operation at 10 a.m. after the gas was discharged, the official said.
Forty tons of coal have been brought up as rescuers continued the search.
A team of 700 rescuers had been mobilized to work in shifts.
Zhou Zhenxiu, director of the Work Safety Bureau of Dengfeng City, had said the situation inside the coal mine was "more complex than expected".
The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation.
The flooded Changda coal mine began operation in 1997 and was unlicensed, the official said.
It was the second coal mine accident in three months in Dengfeng. The first accident occurred at Dengfeng coal mine in Baiping Township on July 13, killing 21 workers.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.
Group hails demise of U.S. mining rules
By Nicholas K. Geranios The Associated Press
SPOKANE — A proposed gold mine in Okanogan County could be the first of numerous new mining projects in Washington since a Bush administration rule change, officials said yesterday.
While environmentalists were alarmed by the change, the Northwest Mining Association hailed the demise of a Clinton-era rule it said prevented new mines from opening in the United States.
Laura Skaer of the Spokane-based mining association expects a wave of mine exploration in the West.
"A number of companies pulled exploration dollars out of the U.S. because they couldn't justify looking for new mineral deposits when there was no assurance they would get the land they need to build a mine," Skaer said.
Now those dollars will probably come back, she said.
In 1997, the Clinton administration decided that federal mining law limited companies working on public lands to a 5-acre mill site for every 20 acres of mine.
Mining companies said it was nearly impossible to concentrate all the needed processing and storage space for a working mine on 5 acres, so the rule limited their industry.
On Friday, the Bush administration eliminated that limitation, allowing mining companies to use unlimited amounts of public land to dump their tailings and other mine waste. Also last week, the long-planned Crown Resources Corp. mine site in Okanogan County was purchased by Kinross Gold Corp. of Toronto, Ontario, one of the largest gold-mining companies in the world.
Kinross Gold paid $134 million in a stock deal for the gold-mine site at Buckhorn Mountain, and said it will push ahead with development of an underground mine.
Kinross earlier this year bought the Echo Bay gold mine near Republic, the state's only active gold mine. There is relatively little mining in Washington these days, but the state contains 3,800 abandoned mines, some of which continue to pollute waterways with toxic runoff, said Mo McBroom of the Washington Public Interest Research Group.
Relaxation of the mining rule, coupled with Kinross' expansion, could be bad news for the environment, McBroom said.
"We have a behemoth mining corporation that will operate a multitude of mines and mills in the state, with the possibility of developing 'mega mill sites' on public land on a scale that was not previously possible," McBroom said.
Kinross said the Buckhorn Mountain project has gold reserves of about 900,000 ounces.
Kinross executives said they were confident they could obtain the needed government permits to develop the site.
"We have been encouraged by the recent legislative changes in the state of Washington, which have improved the business climate and the opportunity for the development of the high quality Buckhorn Mountain gold project," said Bob Buchan of Kinross.
Kinross said it hoped to close the deal with Crown Resources by the end of the year.
Mining is becoming more attractive to companies as gold prices have risen to $375 an ounce, from $320 a year ago and $270 in 2001.
The body of a Springlake Colliery miner, which had been trapped underground in the Dundee mine for 25 days, was finally brought to the surface on Sunday evening, bringing to an end a long and painful wait for the family and a costly shutdown of mine operations.
The miner, Elvis Bonginkosi Khanyile, was employed as a scoop driver and had worked in the colliery for 15 years until the accident.
Miners and managers, as well as members of the rescue team who had worked double shifts for nine days, gathered on the surface when the body was retrieved to offer a prayer.
However, the mine management contemplated launching a complaint with the department of minerals and energy affairs about the alleged misconduct of the principal inspector of mines in Dundee, Thabo Dube, during the retrieval operations.
A Dundee resident said the mine management had expressed displeasure at Dube's insistence that the family be allowed to perform certain customs at the site where the body was found. He said the mine managers intended lodging a complaint because Dube had potentially endangered their lives by trying to gain them entrance to an area considered dangerous and unstable.
BHP Billiton to cut 700 jobs 14/10/2003 19:46 - (SA)
London - Mining giant BHP Billiton said it has told unions it plans to cut some 700 jobs from its Ingwe coal mining subsidiary in South Africa.
"We are putting forward to various unions some job cuts in shared business services, that is in administrative functions at Ingwe," said a BHP Billiton spokesman based in Johannesburg.
"I can confirm that 700 is an accurate number or of that order," he added, representing about 5% of the group's total workforce.
"This represents a point of departure for our consultation process. There are four unions involved and our next meeting is scheduled for October 16,' the spokesman said.
BHP Billiton is trying to find cost-savings to help combat a tough market for its coal exacerbated by the rand's strength against the dollar, high interest rates and high inflation.
Other South African mining groups have also warned of job cuts including diamond miner De Beers and Harmony while gold miner Durban Roodepoort Deep started retrenching about 3000 workers.
An investigation into the US Mine Health and Safety Administration (MSHA) has highlighted serious shortcomings in the department's ability to follow-up underground hazards and fatalities, lack of continuity in inspection procedures and future plans to replace an ageing inspector workforce.
The General Accounting Office (GAO) mine safety study found MSHA devoted substantial effort to ensuring safety and health of coal miners, but its programs could be strengthened.
The investigation focused on underground coal mines and assessed how well MSHA oversaw its process for reviewing and approving critical types of mine plans and the extent to which MSHA's inspections and accident investigations processes helped ensure the safety and health of underground coal miners.
The report drew attention to a number of key areas GAO claimed MSHA failed to monitor effectively.
"MSHA headquarters does not ensure that 6-month technical inspections of ventilation and roof support plans are being completed in a timely fashion," the GAO report said.
The report went on to explain the lapse in time may lead to mines operating without up-to-date plans or mine operators not following all requirements of plans.
In the same area, the report also found MSHA officials did not always ensure that hazards found during inspections were corrected promptly.
"Gaps were found in the information that MSHA uses to monitor fatal and non-fatal injuries, limiting trend analysis and agency oversight," it said.
"Specifically, the agency does not collect information on hours worked by independent contractor staff needed to compute fatality and non-fatal injury rates for specific mines, and it is difficult to link information on accidents at underground coal mines with MSHA's investigations."
The investigation also stressed that guidance provided by MSHA management to agency employees could be strengthened.
The report said the main reason this communication breakdown occurred was because inspection procedures were unclear and were contained in a number of sources. This lead to differing interpretations by mine inspectors.
The last major finding the report made was the lack of forward planning MSHA had made to deal with the ageing workforce within the inspectorate.
"Although about 44 percent of MSHA's underground coal mine inspectors will be eligible to retire in the next 5 years, the agency has no plan for replacing them or using other human capital flexibilities available to the agency to retain its highly qualified and trained inspectors."
The report outlined a number of recommendations to resolve the weaknesses found.
GAO firstly recommended MSHA monitor the timeliness of technical inspections conducted as part of the 6-month review of ventilation and roof control plans to ensure all inspections are completed by the district offices.
A second recommendation was to ensure mine operators were correcting hazards identified during inspections in a timely manner.
The report also said updated guidance should be given to district offices to eliminate inconsistencies and outdated instruction during inspections.
It was advised a plan was developed to address anticipated shortages in the number of qualified inspectors due to upcoming retirements, including streamlining the agency's hiring process and offering retention allowances.
It was recommended a tighter reign be put on independent contractors, where they had to report information to MSHA for use in computing injury and fatality rates to measure effectiveness of the agency's enforcement efforts.
Lastly, it advised the data collection system be revised so it was easier to link injuries, accidents and investigations.
In answer to the report's findings MSHA remarked in its comments submission that the overall tone of the report could be improved to convey that GAO did not find serious deficiencies during its review, and that MSHA was an agency with considerable strengths and accomplishments.
Further in its comments, MSHA did not remark on the recommendations from the report but did disagree with many of the findings on which the recommendations were based.
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