WJU to Receive $144,000 In Federal Mine Safety Funding

Wheeling News Register

October 1, 2011

Wheeling Jesuit University will receive $144,000 in federal funds to help create the Active Training Portal for Mine Safety.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration announced $1 million in grant funds will go to eight organizations that provide education and training within the mining industry. The Brookwood-Sago grants program was established through a provision in the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006. This funding will be used to develop and implement training and related materials for mine emergency preparedness, as well as for the prevention of accidents in underground mines.

Wheeling Jesuit will partner with the Academy for Mine Training and Energy Technologies at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College. Together, they will develop, implement and evaluate a 16-hour "train-the-trainer" course that applies active learning to underground mine emergency prevention and preparedness.

Hope Coffield, program manager for WJU's Emergency Preparedness and Worker Safety Training Program, will manage the day-to-day operations of the project under the direction of J. Davitt McAteer, vice president of Wheeling Jesuit's Sponsored Programs.

"Miners work in an increasingly sophisticated, complex and hazardous environment that demands a full range of critical thinking and decision-making skills. These skills are best developed and exercised when learners have an active responsibility for applying knowledge to scenarios, when they share experiences as a community of learners and when they teach others," Coffield said. "The Active Training Portal for Mine Safety will continue the university's efforts to continuously improve mine safety training."

In addition to Wheeling Jesuit, seven other organizations, including Marshall University, will benefit from the funding.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Coal mine rescue teams put emergency skills to the test

National competition marks 100 years and 60 since it was last held in Columbus, Ohio

WPSD Local 6

October 1, 2011

ARLINGTON, Va. – Mine rescue teams may be tapped to battle mine fires, contain underground floods and rescue their colleagues trapped beneath layers of rock following an explosion. They undergo rigorous training to develop skills they hope they will never need to use. Those skills will be put to the test Oct. 3-6 during the 2011 National Mine Rescue, First-Aid, Bench and Preshift Competition at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

More than 100 teams from at least 13 states – including Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming – will compete in the biennial event sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration. The last time the competition was held in Columbus was in 1951.

“The critical importance of mine rescue teams was underscored with last year’s tragedy at Upper Big Branch Mine,” said Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. “Having been at the scene of too many mining accidents, I know firsthand the need for well-trained and experienced mine rescue teams. I have the highest respect for these men and women, and am deeply grateful for their sacrifices.”

The contest consists of several events. In the field competition, teams must solve a hypothetical mine emergency problem while judges rate them on how well they adhere to mine rescue procedures and how quickly they complete specific tasks.

Other events include a bench contest, in which individuals who maintain rescue equipment must thoroughly inspect breathing devices that have been tampered with and correct defects quickly. In the first-aid contest, participants must demonstrate the correct method of caring for an injured miner. In the pre-shift competition, miners examine the mine layout area before their work shift to identify and eliminate existing hazards.

Mine rescue training began in the United States in 1910 under the U.S. Bureau of Mines. Joseph A. Holmes, the bureau’s first director, sought a training tool that would provide the mining industry with a cadre of mine rescue specialists prepared to respond to disasters. Training efforts evolved into local and regional competitions and, a year later, a national contest held in Pittsburgh, Pa. Among the 15,000 attendees was then-President William H. Taft.

Schedule of Events:

Oct. 3 - First-Aid and Bench Competition

Oct. 4 and 5 - Mine Rescue Field Competition

Oct. 6 - Preshift Examination Competition and Awards Banquet

For a list of participating teams, the complete agenda and additional information, click here.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

China Coal Resumes Output at Two Mines Halted After Deaths

Bloomberg

October 2, 2011

China Coal Energy Co. has resumed production at two of five mines that were suspended after flooding killed 10 workers at a site run by its parent.

The mines passed a safety inspection by local authorities in Shanxi province, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today. Three other sites are starting checks, it said.

Production at the five underground mines was suspended after flooding at a pit run by China National Coal Group Corp., the nation’s second-largest coal producer and parent of the listed company, killed 10 people, Xinhua News Agency reported on Sept. 17.

The provincial government ordered a halt, pending “rectification,” to underground mines owned by the parent and five underground mines in Shanxi held by the listed unit after the Sept. 16 accident, China Coal said in a Sept. 19 statement.

China Coal shares have dropped 29 percent since the accident, compared with a 10 percent slide in the Hang Seng Index. The suspensions, ordered as power plants prepared to start replenishing coal stockpiles for winter demand for electricity, won’t have a material impact on output or the company’s operations, according to today’s statement.

There had been 512 coal-mine accidents in China as of June, 21 percent fewer than in the same period in 2010, Xinhua reported on June 29. Shanxi produced 740 million tons of coal last year, trailing only the 782 million tons mined by Inner Mongolia, China’s top producing province, according to Xinhua in January.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

15 missing in SW China coal mine accident

Xinhua

October 4, 2011

GUIYANG, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Fifteen workers are missing after a coal mine accident Tuesday morning in southwest China's Guizhou Province, local authorities said.

The accident occurred at around 7 a.m. at Anping Coal Mine, which is located in the Lihua Township in Libo County, said Min Luming, secretary of the Communist Party of China of Libo County.

Initial probe said 28 miners were working in the shaft when the accident happened. Of them, 13 escaped from the site and the remaining 15 are missing.

Rescue efforts are under way.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Explosion in Chinese coal mine kills 13 workers; 5 others missing

Associated Press

October 4, 2011

BEIJING — Chinese state media say an explosion in the a coal mine has killed at least 13 workers.

The accident occurred at around 7 a.m. at the Anping Coal Mine, which is located in the Lihua Township in Libo County.

The official Xinhua News Agency says five other workers are missing after the blast Tuesday in a mine in the southwestern province of Guizhou.

It says 13 miners managed to escape, but three of those died in a hospital.

It did not give a cause for the blast.

China’s coal mines are the most dangerous in the world, although the industry’s safety record has improved greatly in recent years as smaller, illegal mines have been closed. Annual fatalities are now about one-third of the high of nearly 7,000 in 2002.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

S&T team excels in underground competition

Missouri S&T News and Research

October 4, 2011

A team from Missouri University of Science and Technology recently finished second in a mine rescue competition that was held at S&T's Experimental Mine.

The event featured 13 teams, most of which represented companies. In addition to the squad that finished second, another S&T team placed 12th against the industry professionals.

The second-place finish is quite an accomplishment, according to Jim Taylor, supervisor of the Experimental Mine. "I have been here 19 years and this is the best one of our teams has placed," Taylor says.

Missouri S&T is one of the only universities in the nation that instructs mining engineering students in hands-on mine rescue techniques. When they go on to work in the mining industry, they take what they've learned with them.

During these competitions, teams are evaluated on how they handle a simulated disaster situation underground. The events are set up and judged by representatives of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The teams are rated on how well they follow the basic rules and regulations of the underground rescue problem, and they are graded on written exams. Mine rescue competitions also feature tests involving first aid and maintaining self-contained breathing gear.

Members of Missouri S&T's 2011 second-place team included:

-- Josh Cole, a senior in mining engineering from St. Louis

-- Eric Hoffman, a graduate student in mining engineering from St. Louis

-- Nate Hoffman, an S&T mining engineering graduate and a current MBA student from St. Louis

-- Xavier Naeger, a senior in mining engineering from Ste. Genevieve, Mo.

-- Cody Rogers (captain), a senior in mining engineering from Lebanon, Mo.

-- Casey Slaughter, a graduate student in mining engineering from Carthage, Mo.

-- Ryan Sinclair, a senior in mining engineering from Hannibal, Mo.

-- Eric Wesel, a sophomore in mining engineering from Marietta, Ohio.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Death toll rises to 17 in China coal mine blast

Associated Press

October 5, 2011

BEIJING — The death toll from a coal mine explosion in southwestern China has risen to 17.

The official Xinhua News Agency says 28 miners were in the shaft when the blast occurred Tuesday in Guizhou province.  Eleven were rescued and being treated in a hospital.

Initial reports said 13 miners had died, but three rescued workers later died in a hospital and another body was recovered from the shafts Wednesday morning, bringing the toll to 17.

Xinhua did not give a cause for the blast.

China's coal mines are the most dangerous in the world, although the industry's safety record has improved in recent years as smaller, illegal mines have been closed.  Annual fatalities are now about one-third of the high of nearly 7,000 in 2002.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Miners’ Major Test

Rescue teams pit their expertise against one another as they compete in tests of emergency preparedness

Columbus Dispatch

By Dan Gearino

October 5, 2011

Ohio hasn’t had a major mine disaster in more than 50 years. If such a thing does happen, the people competing this week in Columbus will be the ones who will work to bring their colleagues out alive.

Mine-rescue teams from across the country, including three from Ohio, are going through simulations that test their ability to react to emergency situations.

They are contestants in the biennial event held by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration, and hosted this year by the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Organizers expect about 1,500 people to attend.

“It’s just like family. Just like brothers,” said Chris Cosgrove, safety director for Buckingham Coal Co., based in Perry County.

He started working as a miner in 1994 and was a member of his company’s rescue team. This year is his first acting as a coach of sorts, watching from the sidelines as his co-workers made their way through the course.

Five team members navigated through a competition area about as big as a basketball court, marked off with metal railings, intended to represent the walls of a coal mine. Signs taped to the floor indicated obstacles. A sixth team member sat in an enclosed booth and gave instructions over a two-way radio.

Teams had 70 minutes to finish the challenge, which involved retrieving a co-worker from a simulated disaster. The four-day event, which ends Thursday, also includes first-aid tests and equipment-repair challenges. More than 100 teams from more than a dozen states are participating.

Buckingham Coal operates two mines in southern Ohio, with about 250 employees. The miners work about 2,000 feet underground.

While the company has not had a rescue situation of its own, its team has helped with several high-profile incidents at other sites, such as the Sago Mine disaster in 2006 in West Virginia, in which 12 miners died. They were not involved in last year’s Upper Big Branch disaster that killed 29 miners, also in West Virginia.

Ohio has 11,900 people working in the mining and logging industries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While the industry is much smaller than it used to be, it remains an important part of the southern Ohio economy.

The most deadly mine disaster in Ohio history was in Athens County in 1930, killing more than 80 people, followed by one in Belmont County in 1940 that killed more than 70, according to the agency’s records. In recent decades, there have been mine fatalities in the state, but nothing approaching the scale of Sago or Upper Big Branch.

Recent disasters have led to new federal rules affecting mining equipment and rescue-team training. The competition, though it has been held at various sites for 100 years, gives the participants credit toward the new training requirements.

“Our hope is for them to be trained and never have to use their skills” in the field, said Kevin Stricklin, administrator for coal-mine safety with the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Like many of the people overseeing the event, he once worked in a mine.

The competition took place side-by-side with a trade show, with vendors seeking to show off mine-safety products. Among those represented at the trade show was Battelle, the Columbus-based research firm, which has several prototypes of machines for use by rescue teams.

One of the machines looks like a yellow inflatable raft. It expands into a tentlike structure that filters air and provides refuge for up to 96 hours.

The product is “the Jetsons solution,” said Rick Givens, a Battelle engineer, comparing the advanced technology to what is used today.

He has a personal stake in his work. His father was a coal miner who was part of his company’s rescue team.

He feels good to have the prototype, but “it would feel better if we had it out in the field.”

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

New Technologies Featured at National Mine Rescue Contest

Occupational Health & Safety

October 6, 2011

Some of the nation's best mine rescue teams have competed this week in the 2011 National Mine Rescue, First Aid, Bench and Preshift Competition, which wraps up Oct. 6 in Columbus, Ohio. Included in the final day's activities are a written exam for preshift participants, a mine rescue stakeholder meeting with MSHA Assistant Secretary Joe Main, and an awards banquet in the Battelle Grand Ballroom.

Officials from Battelle Memorial Institute, a research and development organization that is based in Columbus, took part in this event by bringing two new mine rescue technologies developed at the institute:

• The Mine Barrier Survival System, a lightweight inflatable shelter, can provide refuge and a habitable atmosphere for days until help arrives, according to Battelle. It was designed by Battelle's chemical, mechanical, and mining engineers in consultation with industry experts and uses affordable, commercial off-the-shelf technologies. Its air scrubbing system ca mitigates threats, such as toxic levels of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, and reduced oxygen levels.

• "Thumper," a Miner Acoustic Signaling and Locating System, is a repeatable pinger based on military technology. It was developed by Battelle, Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company, and GeoSonics/Vibra-Tech, Inc. and "generates 10 times the energy that a healthy man with a sledgehammer could create when striking a rail to help rescuers pinpoint his location," according to Battelle's description. The device is gas driven and can reliably continue sending seismic signals for 10 straight days, when reloaded once a day. Thumper would be used as a last-resort system when other means of communication have been destroyed, according to Battelle.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Memorial to be unveiled Saturday

WKYT

October 6, 2011

A memorial is finally finished in remembrance of the 38 miners who died and the one that survived a mine explosion more than 40 years ago.

On December 30th, 1970 a blast ripped through two shafts of the Finley Coal Company's Mine on Hurricane Creek in Leslie County.

It is one of the most deadly mining disasters in U.S. history.

"38 lost their lives. There was one survivor. A. T. Collins," said State Representative Tim Couch.

A conservation with the survivor's son about the monument in front of the Leslie County Courthouse led State Representative Couch to designing the new memorial.

"He said my father's name is not on there, which his father was the only survivor," said State Representative Couch.

A. T. Collins' name is on the new statue.

The Hurricane Creek Mine site is now a state historic site with a monument in memory of those killed.

"The men have been gone for 40 years, and their families, children, and grandchildren are left. And I think they really appreciate this," said Leslie County Judge Executive Jimmy Sizemore.

State Representative Couch says he designed the memorial to inform people of what happened that day and to remember and honor our lost miners.

"It is. It's really nice. It's touching," said State Representative Couch.

State Representative Couch says the monument is funded by coal severance money.

The dedication ceremony will be Saturday afternoon at one and is open to the public.

The statue will be revealed then.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Miner killed in accident at Letcher County mine

WYMT

October 7, 2011

The Letcher County (Kentucky) coroner has confirmed to us that one person has died overnight in a mining accident.

It happened at a mine just off U.S. 119 in the Eolia community.

Police tell us the call of the accident came in about two Friday morning.

We are continuing to follow this developing story and will bring you the latest information as we get it.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Miner killed in accident

WKYT

October 8, 2011

An Eastern Kentucky miner died Friday after an accident in the early morning at a mine on Maggard Branch.

It happened at about two a.m. in the Owlco Energy mine behind the Cumberland River Volunteer Fire Department.

This is the fourth mining-related fatality in Kentucky this year.

23-year-old Richard Coots, Jr. of Ages is dead after a mining accident at Owlco Energy in Partridge.

Coots was repairing a conveyor chain when the bridge collapsed on top of him.

"A crushing injury from what is referred to as a bridge inside the coal mine that the belt runs through that has the coal moving to the outside," said Letcher County Deputy Coroner Perry Fowler.

Fowler says nearby miners removed Coots from the rubble.

"His brother was with the crew that brought him out. They were working together in the same area in the mine," said Fowler.

The miners say they performed CPR, but it was too late.

"The apparatus had fallen on him and crushed his upper chest," said Fowler.

The mine is closed while investigators try to determine what caused the accident.

Office of Mine Safety and Licensing officials say they first have to gather preliminary information.

"They go and they make measurements, and they check the physical conditions of the equipment and gather all the physical facts from the accident scene," said Johnny Greene, Executive Director of the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing.

Greene says witnesses in the mine will be interviewed Saturday.

After officials from the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing sit down with the victim's family and the mining company, the accident report will be public record.

Officials at Owlco Energy say they do not want to comment.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Former Chinese coal boss gets life in jail for graft

Reuters India

October 9, 2011

A former senior executive at China's No. 3 state-owned coal producer has been sentenced to life imprisonment for accepting bribes, state media Xinhua said on Sunday.

Zhao Shenglong, a former vice-president at Datong Coal Mine Group, was found to have taken two bribes totalling more than 8.29 million yuan ($1.3 million) between 2000 and 2005, Xinhua said.

Datong is the parent of Shanghai-listed Datong Coal Industry Company Ltd. The company was not immediately available for comment.

Corruption is common in China's political and business arenas. High-profile officials who have fallen from grace after bribery cases include former Shanghai Communist Party Chief Chen Liangyu, and Kang Rixin, the former head of China's main nuclear energy firm.

Widespread corruption has bred resentment among many Chinese, who also feel aggrieved by the pollution and illegal land grabs that accompany China's rapid economic growth.

($1 = 6.386 Chinese Yuan)

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Chilean Miners Fight Their Demons

Daily Beast

By Jonathan Franklin

October 9, 2011

A year after their miraculous rescue, Samuel Avalos, one of the 33 rescued Chilean miners, now says that the fabled heroes have been abandoned, both financially and psychologically. “Every man for himself,” said Avalos, when asked to describe the psychological counseling and financial support given him over the past 12 months. “They cast us to the wind and experimented with pills, giving us everything including anti-psychotics!”

Avalos, a 42 year old with minimal mining experience before the entrapment, is now living off the occasional lecture and has peddled his personal artifacts from the entrapment for $8,000 to a Chilean museum run by Carlos Cardoen, a millionaire businessman who made his fortune selling cluster bombs to Saddam Hussein.

“They bought my helmet, my uniform, and lots of knick-knacks,” said Avalos who hopes to work as a tour guide at that same museum, in Santa Cruz in Central Chile.

In a permutation of The Stockholm Syndrome, in which kidnap victims bond with their captors, the miners have developed a pathological attachment to their master—the San Jose mine itself, said Dr. Rodrigo Gillibrand, a psychiatrist in Santiago, Chile who is treating many of the miners for post traumatic stress symptoms. “There will be no return to normalcy,” said Dr. Gillibrand. “In this case it´s impossible, the road is studded with trauma.”

Psychological problems amongst the miners have spread deeply in recent months, forcing the government to seek the institutionalization of at least three of them, including Edison Pena, the Elvis imitator who charmed the world with his performance on the David Letterman show.

While trapped underground for ten weeks, the 33 men experienced conditions that were practically the definition of torture: darkness, no sense of time, deprivation of food, imminent death, and most important, a complete uncertainty about when the entire incident might end.

“Experiments with mammals have shown that it is that uncertainty that is so traumatic,” said Gillibrand. “It is a lot like the symptoms seen in Vietnam Veterans, you have permanent rage, and nightmares….many of these men will need treatment for life. It is impossible to erase this trauma”

Dr. Gillibrand, speaking in his office in Santiago, estimated that roughly one-third of the men were experiencing extremely complicated symptoms as a result of their entrapment. “Put it this, way, if you asked me how many of the men don´t need psychiatric help, I would say seven or eight.”

Dr. Gillibrand, who has been involved with the mental health protocols of the miners for over a year, was critical of what he called the Chilean society´s “abandonment” of the miners. “With the rescue they were freed, not cured,” he said.

Under Chilean law, the health insurance company ACHS, where Gillibrand works, is responsible only for the health and welfare of the injured workers—the 33 miners in this case. However, Dr. Gillibrand said it was clear that the families of the miners are also in grave need of constant treatment and counseling. “There was great expectations that when the men were rescued that they would be reborn, many committed to marriage….but this trauma is impossible to erase, many of them left a grand part of their personalities down below.”

Those pleas are falling on largely deaf ears. Despite continued worldwide interest in the entrapment and the rescue of the miners, the coordination of their worldwide fame has been haphazard at best. A top Chilean law firm, Carey & Carey, has negotiated an exclusive deal with William Morris / Endeavor talent agency to coordinate the big ticket items, including the official book, official movie and reputedly a TV mini series. But the miners have not seen that money yet and many of them are currently living on the brink of poverty—selling fruit at the corner market, auctioning off their new motorcycles (a gift from Kawasaki) and pleading with the government for state subsidized housing.

While a handful of the miners—including Reygadas, charismatic Mario Sepulveda and shift foreman Luis Urzua—have been actively courted as speakers and celebrities, the once fabled unity of the 33 is now being torn apart by money matters. An email account set up to channel interview requests and sponsorship opportunities has allegedly been hijacked by a single miner. “That is why we overthrew him,” said Samuel Avalos, referring to miner Omar Reygadas who was for several months the point person and spokesman for the group. “He never shared the password and he is the only one with the access, he keeps all the information for himself.

Dr. Gillibrand was also critical of the psychological treatment given the men when they were trapped underground. “It wasn´t adequate, it should have been less confrontational, should have been focused on minimizing their stress.”

Alberto Iturra, the lead psychologist during the ten-week entrapment had devised a plan—now widely criticized—in which he deliberately provoked the trapped miners in an effort to stimulate group unity. By restricting TV access and censoring letters, Iturra sought to first increase the collective rage of the trapped men and then have it channeled topside. That approach has been widely questioned in the aftermath of the rescue, with the rather common sense logic that extremely stressed individuals do not need additional burdens.

Chilean President Sebastian Piñera, who was at the forefront of the media-spectacle rescue, and could conceivably invent jobs for the 33, told TV show 60 Minutes that it was time for the miners to get back to work. He essentially said that life is tough and you have got to bear it out. Piñera´s political fortunes soared with the miners, reaching a high of 65 percent, while today he is in freefall, with recent polls showing just a 27 percent approval rating. The miners have subsequently fallen far off the Chilean political radar. “The paternalism of the government is like that of a father who recognizes he is the father of a child and then abandons him again,” said Gillibrand. “It is so frustrating that they don´t have work or at least a solution for employment. I am not saying they should be fully subsidized,but at least a steady job.”

For the miners suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) the road back to working and normal health is still a far away dream. When miner Jose Ojeda went back to working underground he had an almost immediate blackout, an overwhelming sense of anguish and panic. To this day, Ojeda does not know how he walked or was taken out of the mine.

Many of the miners complain of nightmares, fears of loud sounds, short attention spans, and difficulty relating to their immediate family. “I used to play with my four year old, now the relationship is not the same,” said miner Victor Zamora in an interview with this reporter. Zamora later joked that he wished he could be a millionaire, “that way I could find the guy who has my happiness and buy it back.”

Zamora has returned to therapy in what may be a years' long effort to find balance and stability in his life. For other miners, the trauma has been so thick with violence and nightmares that the men have abandoned completely psychological counseling and only come under care when the medical authorities have managed to briefly institutionalize them.

Even before the mine collapsed on August 5, 2010, the miners were victims. Their workplace, Mina San Jose, was so notoriously dangerous that they men gave themselves the nickname the Kamikazes.

Wages at San Jose were some 30 percent higher than average, meaning that a working man with a sixth-grade education could earn $1,700 a month, a small fortune in northern Chile where the majority earn the minimum wage of $350 a month.

Every shift inside the San Jose Mine was potentially deadly—the roof crashing down, tunnels collapsing, exhaust fumes sending clouds of faint-inducing toxins. The safety procedures were virtually non-existent. Just four weeks before the massive collapse of the mine, a mini avalanche sliced off the left leg of worker Gino Cortes. The death of coworkers had led the Chilean government to occasionally suspend mining operations, but always the regulators gave in to the economics of a mine that produced 250 jobs. After every death, the mine was briefly put under the spotlight. But with just two government mine inspectors for a region with over 2,000 operating mines, the oversight and inspection capabilities remained light years behind the billion-dollar development of the mining industry in northern Chile.

An investigation by the Chilean congress heard repeated testimony that the mine owners had greedily chased veins of valuable gold and copper and effectively honeycombed the entire mountainside, leading to the cave in.

When the mine collapsed, a piece of rock twice the weight of the Empire State Building slammed down, effectively sealing the men in an underground tomb. At a depth of nearly 700 meters, the men were destined to die a hot, slow death. Humidity was ninety percent, and the temperature rarely broke below ninety degrees – meaning the men were drenched in sweat and forced to rehydrate by drinking from tubs of industrial water.

During the first 17 days of entrapment, with no contact to the outside world the men built a unique underground society. The constant threat of death, the almost total lack of food and the sense that they were collectively going to die together brought the men to the brink of a very slow and gruesome death spiral.

Cannibalism was not only a possibility but a near certainty. “The men were looking at one another wondering who would die first. It was an open secret that the first victim would also be the first meal,” said one of the rescue workers who asked not to be named out of fear that he would lose his job. With a stream of constant jokes and threats the miners made it clear that eating a companion was not just an option. It was the only option.

While trapped underground, the men also began to consider an act of desperation: Collective Suicide. The methods discussed included blowing themselves to smithereens with dynamite and packing the group into tight quarters and running exhaust fumes into the enclosed area. Once the rescue began to show signs of success, the men tried to bury these dark memories of cannibalism talks and collective suicide plans, but the fallout from these grueling moments continue to haunt the men.

Despite their abandonment, lack of financial future, and deep psychological scars from the entrapment, the men have somehow maintained a sense of loyalty that keeps alive the spirit of the “33 Musketeers.”

If they can hold that unity long enough, they may well live to see the promises of fortune that have been tempting them since the moment they were rescued in October 2010. A major movie deal is in the works. With Hollywood heavyweight Michael Medavoy (Black Swan, Shutter Island) and scriptwriter Jose Rivera (Motorcycle Diaries) and a worldwide audience guaranteed to pay attention, the launch of a worldwide release in 2013 might well bring the men the real cash of their dreams. An official book written by Pulitzer Prize-winning Hector Tobar (Los Angeles Times) is also expected to give the men a burst of publicity and perhaps some cash as well. Talks of TV mini series and worldwide speaking tours are also tossed about.

During a recent interview with miner Samuel Avalos, the reminders of the entrapment were never far away. “I live in a house that creaks, and when I am asleep and hear that groan, it reminds me that I am back in the mine,” said Avalos. “It takes a while for that to clear out of your head.”

But rather than be critical of his turn of fate, Avalos talked enthusiastically of gathering the cash ($7,000) to qualify for a government housing grant ($14,000) in order to buy his dream house – which at 600 square feet is a modest fantasy. He shows off cellophane-enclosed letters to the minister of housing in which he humbly lays out his argument that he should be jumped to the front of the line of those waiting for housing subsidies. The letter is signed, “Samuel Avalos, miner 22, pulled from the depths of hell.”

And on the last page, he has a copy of his employee´s contract—the original pact with the Devil that landed him in first at the bottom of Chile´s most dangerous mine and then atop the flotsam and chop of the world´s media wave. “That´s worth something,” he said proudly. “No one is ever working at that mine again.”

That certainly is one of the few comforting thoughts still ricocheting inside the heads of “Los 33,” a band of daring survivalists.

Jonathan Franklin a reporter with the London Guardian is author of 33 Men, the bestselling account of the entrapment of the Chilean miners. Available on Amazon and at bookstores nationwide.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Join author Bonnie Stewart and West Virginia University Press in remembering the victims, survivors, and investigation of the 1968 Farmington Mine Disaster.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Knights of Columbus

1529 Mary Lou Retton Drive

Fairmont, WV

7pm

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Arts Monongahela

210 High Street

Morgantown, WV

7pm

with Professors Patrick McGinley & Suzanne Weise

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Charleston Civic Center, Room WV 105

Charleston, WV

10am

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Chilling details of Cupertino quarry killings

San Francisco Chronicle

Jaxon Van Derbeken, Henry K. Lee,Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writers

October 6, 2011

CUPERTINO -- It was 4:15 a.m. Wednesday and about 15 workers at a Cupertino quarry were getting ready for a routine safety meeting in a company trailer.

Longtime employee Shareef Allman said hi to everyone, grabbed a cup of coffee, then ducked out. Within moments he was back with a .40-caliber handgun and a .223-caliber assault rifle, witnesses say. He fired two shots into the air to grab everyone's attention.

"You think you can f- with me?" Allman, 49, yelled again and again as he methodically shot his colleagues one by one, said Kerry Shaffer, 50, a temporary worker at the Lehigh Southwest Cement Permanente Plant in the foothills of Cupertino who escaped the carnage.

When it was over, three of Allman's co-workers were dead and six others were injured. But the suspect's rampage wasn't finished, authorities say: After driving away from the plant, he shot and wounded a woman whose car he was trying to steal, then eluded an intense manhunt that stretched into Wednesday evening.

Neighborhood hunt

Police from numerous agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Marshal's Service combed a neighborhood on the Cupertino-Sunnyvale border looking for Allman, a San Jose resident who drove a truck for the quarry, where he had worked for 15 years.

The dead were identified as Mark Munoz, 59, of San Jose, Manuel Pinon, 48, of Newman (Stanislaus County) and John Vallejos, 51, of San Jose. Vallejos' brother, Jesse Vallejos, 52, of Gilroy was among the wounded.

"I didn't realize this was reality until I saw bodies on the floor," Shaffer said. "Once he went by me, I knocked some people over and ran out the door. I was gone. Without a doubt, it was the most scary thing that's ever happened in my life."

There was no immediate explanation for the rampage at Lehigh, a limestone-mining operation and cement plant at 24001 Stevens Creek Blvd. But there were theories.

A neighbor of Allman's said he was upset that he had recently been moved to the night shift. Shaffer said the truck driver had been "reprimanded a lot lately because he's been making a lot of mistakes."

'Late a lot'

A shop steward told Shaffer that Allman was involved in "more accidents in the last year or two than people have done over 20 years. He was late a lot, and he kept blaming others."

About three hours after the shooting, Allman tried to take a woman's car at a gas station on Homestead Road near Tantau Avenue about 5 miles east of the plant, then shot and wounded her before running into the surrounding neighborhood, police said.

Allman remained at large Wednesday night, eluding a house-by-house search that included dogs, helicopters and SWAT teams. Authorities have recovered a handgun, a shotgun and two assault rifles from various locations but believe Allman is still armed, said Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, citing surveillance video.

Officers ended their ground search around 7:30 p.m., but Smith said helicopters with thermal vision would be used overnight.

Out of character

Friends of Allman and neighbors at the San Jose apartment complex where he lives described him as religious and outgoing, and expressed shock that he was suspected of gunning down colleagues.

A day before the shooting, however, co-workers noticed that Allman wasn't his usual friendly self.

"He seemed cool until (Tuesday)," said Charles Bryan of Salinas, a truck driver at the quarry. "He was not waving, not acknowledging anybody. Normally he was very outgoing. Everybody noticed it."

The victims' relatives said they had no idea why their loved ones were targets.

Jesse Vallejos' wife, Michelle DeConge, said both brothers were veteran safety leaders at the plant. John Vallejos leaves two children and five grandchildren, she said.

DeConge said she didn't know much about Allman, other than that she had sat next to him at company Christmas parties.

"We really don't know too much," she said. "It's hard to process."

Near retirement

Munoz's sister-in-law, Carmen Rodriguez, said he had been a quarry employee for 20 years and had been looking forward to retiring in three years. He took care of his elderly mother, who has problems walking, and was married to his wife, Viola, for 40 years, Rodriguez said.

Munoz, the father of two, enjoyed restoring old Volkswagens.

"He's a very good person, very family-oriented," Rodriguez said.

Paulette Conner, a neighbor at the apartment complex on Renaissance Drive in San Jose where Allman lives, said he had recently been moved to the 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. shift at the quarry and "was not happy about it."

Allman has a 20-year-old son and an 18-year-old daughter, and Conner said he had been hoping to spend more time with the daughter.

Conner said she had spoken with the daughter shortly after the shooting.

"She was frantic," Conner said. "It's horrible for her. He's the only parent she knows."

Door-to-door search

Allman's apparent vanishing into a quiet Sunnyvale neighborhood called Birdland - streets have names such as Parrot, Quail and Peacock - led police to block off a perimeter of about 20 square blocks until nighttime.

SWAT officers in camouflage fatigues went door to door, searching homes and backyards. Residents holed up in their homes, and if they left they were not allowed to return. Some officers checked the trunks of cars driving out of the area. Many stores in the area closed early.

"I'm a little worried," said resident Bea Teufel, who was directed to an evacuation center when officers refused to let her go home. "But with so many policemen here, I think it will be OK."

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Five die in Dagari coalmine collapse

The Nation, Pakistan

October 15, 2011

QUETTA - Five mineworkers died Thursday when a coalmine caved in after a powerful explosion in Dagari area of Mastung district, about 35 kilometres southeast of Quetta Thursday.

According to Balochistan Mines Chief Inspector Iftikhar Ahmed, the incident took place at Sardar Gohar Coal Company in Dagari area.

“The miners were busy extracting coal some 1,200 feet inside the mine when a huge blast occurred after the mine filled with methane gas, leaving five of them dead” he said, adding that two workers, who were away from the site, remained unhurt. Rescuer rushed to the site and retrieved the bodies. The deceased were identified as Abdullah, Zhoor, Sharafat Ali, Gul Wali and Ziaullah. Three of them are residents of Swat and two are locals. The bodies have been sent to their hometowns for burial.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Mines Minister Abdul Rehman Mengal ordered an inquiry into the incident and closure of the mine. In March, more than 40 miners were killed in a coalmine explosion in the Sorange area, some 40 kilometres from Quetta.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

13 Miners Trapped in Flooded Coal Mine in Northeast China

Xinhua

October 15, 2011

A coal mine flooded Tuesday evening in northeast China’s Jinxi City, located in Heilongjiang Province.

Local officials say 13 miners are now trapped. A rescue operation is underway. According to officials, police have detained the owner of the flooded Jindi Coal Mine.

At first he had denied that there was anyone trapped underground. Later he admitted that 24 people were underground at the time. 11 managed to escape.

The mine is licensed and started operation in 2005.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

W. Va. orders emergency mine inspections

CanadianBusiness.com

October 15, 2011

CHARLESTON, W. Va. (AP) — West Virginia mine safety officials have ordered emergency inspections of up to 500 rescue shelters in the state's underground coal mines.

The Charleston Gazette (http://bit.ly/qjnxQ7) reported the Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training issued the order Friday.

West Virginia mines are required to contain rescue shelters that could help miners survive the toxic environment inside a mine after an underground explosion.

The agency cited concerns that cracked valves and fittings might make the units inoperable.

The order requires inspections by shelter manufacturers of all inflatable, tent design mine rescue chambers by Oct. 31.

The order also requires mine operators to replace all brass valves and fittings associated with the units' compressed-oxygen cylinders within the next two years.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

11 Trapped in Blast at Coal Mine in NW China

Xinhua

October 16, 2011

Eleven people were trapped underground Sunday after a gas explosion at a coal mine in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, local authorities said.

Altogether 21 miners were working underground when the blast happened around 11:30 a.m. at the Tianyu Coal Mine in rural Tongchuan, the city government said in a statement Sunday afternoon.

So far, 10 of the miners have managed to escape the shaft but 11 are still trapped.

The rescue operation is underway.

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U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

No sign of life detected in flooded coal mine in NE China

Xinhua

October 17, 2011

Rescuers said on Saturday they had found no sign of life four days after 13 miners were trapped under a flooded coal mine in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Efforts to pump water out of the mine continued, though the prime time for rescue efforts had passed, according to Peng Jianxun, deputy head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety (SACMS).

Police have detained the boss of Jindi Coal Mine, a licensed private mine in Jidong county, who apparently tried to cover up the accident after the flood hit the mine on Tuesday afternoon.

The mine owner later confessed to the police that 24 people were underground when the accident happened, with 11 of them managing to escape.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation, and it is still unknown how many hours it would take to drain the mine.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com