Worker killed in accident at Stillwater's Nye mine
KULR8
November 1, 2011
BILLINGS - Stillwater Mining Company says an employee has died after an accident at its operation near Nye Monday afternoon.
A mine spokesman says it happened at three and representatives from the mine safety and health administration are investigating.
The press release says that the accident occurred while the person was working on the 3800 level of the mine.
The spokesman says incident has nothing to do with evacuations that took place two weeks ago due to malfunctioning equipment causing smoke in the mine.
The night shift has been cancelled as the investigation continues. Officials would not give any more details at this time. The last time a deadly accident occurred at the mine was in 2005.
Stillwater Mine produces platinum and palladium group metals and employs about 13,000 people.
ELKO, Nev. (AP) — Officials say a 21-year-old contract worker died at a Newmont Mining Corp. site in rural northeastern Nevada after he was overcome by fumes while repairing a tire.
The Elko Daily Free Press reports (http://bit.ly/uftYVR) the man was found unconscious in the gold mining company's truck shop north of Carlin about 5:45 p.m. Friday. A Eureka County deputy pronounced him dead at the scene.
A spokeswoman from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration said he was working inside of the large tire of a hauling truck at Gold Quarry Mine when he passed out from the fumes of a tire patch.
The newspaper reports the death is the first fatality of the year at a Nevada mining operation.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The ranking Democrat on a House committee that oversees workplace safety said Wednesday he's concerned Alpha Natural Resources may be continuing some of Massey Energy's dangerous practices.
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., noted that Alpha has continued to employ numerous Massey officials who refused to cooperate with the investigation of the April 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster. Miller also noted that Alpha has decided to fight federal regulators over tough enforcement action at several mines it bought from Massey.
In a House floor speech, Miller focused on the findings of last week's United Mine Workers report on the disaster, outlining routine safety violations, intimidation of workers, and interference with government inspections by Massey.
"I have been personally assured that these corrupt practices won't reappear with the new owners," Miller said. "However, there are some troubling contradictions that merit a careful watch."
Miller noted that Congress has not passed his Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act to, among other things, increase criminal penalties and make it easier to hold corporate officials responsible for safety violations.
"It is clear the Massey Energy management actively disregarded their workers' health and safety," Miller said. "Unfortunately, the knowing violation of a mandatory health and safety standard is only a misdemeanor, no matter how many miners are killed.
"This kind of conduct needs to be made a felony, but efforts to increase sanctions have been stifled by the mining industry's lobby," Miller said. "Instead of being held accountable for decisions that caused 29 deaths, Massey Energy executives got a massive $195 million payout when they sold off their company."
Miller said, "If you wonder why people are talking about the 1 percent and the 99 percent, the 99 percent in the mine had their lives put in danger every day.
"They went to work for Massey," Miller said. "And every day they questioned it, they were threatened with their job loss.
"But the 1 percent, the 1 percent walked away with $195 million for overseeing one of the most dangerous mining operations in the history of this country," Miller said. "What about the families of the breadwinners of the 99 percent? They lost their husband, they lost their father, they lost their brother."
Miller's speech followed last week's release of the UMW report on Upper Big Branch, but was also timed one day before Alpha is scheduled to release its first report on earnings for a full quarter since the Massey purchase.
Miller has written a series of letters to Alpha CEO Kevin Crutchfield, asking questions and raising concerns about Massey's safety practices and how Alpha planned to reform the Massey operations it acquired in June.
In a response dated Aug. 11, Crutchfield wrote that Alpha "can only assume" that former Massey officials who refused to answer investigators' questions about the mine disaster did so "upon advice of their respective counsel."
Crutchfield said that his company "strives not only to continually improve its own safety practices, but will continue to strive to also set the industry standard in safe operations and behaviors."
But Crutchfield also said Alpha opposes the sorts of tougher sanctions for mine safety violations and crimes that are included in Miller's legislation.
"Laws are already on the books that penalize the types of illegal activities you rightfully criticize," Crutchfield wrote. "Alpha strongly believes that the focus of any revisions to current mine safety statutes or regulations should be focused not on increasing penalties once mistake are made, but on proactively preventing those mistakes from occurring in the first place."
Officials in China said four miners were killed late Thursday and dozens more trapped in a coal mining accident in the central Henan province.
The incident, at the Qianqiu coal mine in the city of Sanmenxia, took place after a sudden burst of rocks trapped the men in the mine shaft Agence France Press reported.
A spokesperson for the state-owned company Henan Yima Coal Mine said 57 miners were still trapped in the mine shaft, but their condition was unclear.
Separate reports said seven miners had been rescued.
The rock burst happened moments after a small, 2.9 magnitude earthquake shook Sanmenxia city, but it was unclear if the tremor caused the accident, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
The accident comes days after a gas explosion in a state-owned coal mine in neighboring Hunan province killed 29 miners.
Hundreds of miners die every year in pit accidents in China, whose mining industry is one of the most dangerous in the world, the BBC reported.
BEIJING — Forty-five miners trapped underground after a rock blast in a Chinese coal mine were brought to the surface Saturday in a rare successful rescue, CCTV state television reported.
Eight people had been confirmed killed by Thursday's accident at the Qianqiu colliery in the central province of Henan, it said. Another 21 had earlier been brought out.
Emergency personnel had to dig a tunnel at a depth of several hundred metres to reach the trapped men, and CCTV -- which covered the rescue live -- showed miners emerging from the colliery's main lift more than 36 hours after the blast.
Some were still wearing their miner's lamps, and all of them looked tired and had blackened faces.
Most were able to walk, sometimes with the support of rescuers, as crowds looking on in the town of Sanmenxia live cheered.
The last miner to be rescued was carried out on a stretcher and immediately taken away by ambulance.
While mining accidents are common in China, it is unusual for so many people to be successfully brought to the surface alive. The operation is the most successful such effort in the country since April 2010, when 115 miners were rescued after eight days trapped underground at a mine in northern China.
In October last year 33 workers trapped underground for 69 days in a mine under Chile's Atacama Desert were pulled out in a dramatic 22-hour rescue.
In the latest accident the miners were trapped by a rock burst -- a violent explosion caused by huge pressure -- moments after a minor 2.9 magnitude earthquake, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
It was not immediately clear whether the earthquake directly caused the accident.
A total of 74 people were in the shaft at the time, CCTV said.
The colliery is part of the Henan Yima Coal Mine Group, a giant state-owned mining company.
The incident was the latest to hit the hazardous mining industry in China, and came days after a gas explosion at a state-owned coal mine in neighbouring Hunan province left 29 miners dead.
Earlier in October, blasts at mines in the southwestern city of Chongqing and the northern province of Shaanxi killed 13 and 11 miners respectively.
In 2010, 2,433 people died in coal mining accidents in China, according to official statistics -- a rate of more than six workers per day. Campaigners suggest the true figure is likely to be far higher.
China's rapid economic growth has caused demand for energy, including coal, to surge. Critics say some mining bosses have put the safety of workers at risk in their pursuit of profit.
China is the world's leading consumer of coal, relying on it for 70 percent of its growing energy needs.
Over the past eight years it has on average built one coal-fired power station a week. And with the arrival of winter, mines are operating at full capacity.
"In this season when coal consumption and prices are high and profits lucrative, the heads of (mining) companies should pay extra attention to safety," Luo Lin, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, said Saturday.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nearly six years after the Sago Mine disaster, the remaining wrongful-death lawsuits filed by families of the miners who died have been resolved, according to court records filed Friday.
Lawyers for families of six of the miners filed papers indicating they had reached settlements with mine operator Wolf Run Mining Co., and resolved claims against parent company International Coal Group and other defendants.
Terms were not disclosed, but Kanawha Circuit Judge Charles King scheduled a hearing for Nov. 16 to consider approval of the settlements, court officials said. Trial had been scheduled to start in May.
"Right now, the families are focused on completing the steps necessary for the conclusion of the settlements," said Morgantown lawyer Al Karlin, who represented several of the families.
Families of five of the miners killed at Sago had already settled wrongful-death cases against the company, and survivor Randal McCloy Jr. settled a lawsuit filed over injuries he sustained in the disaster.
Technically, the wrongful-death cases involve settlements between the mining company and the estates of the miners who died. The new settlements also resolve two other lawsuits filed against the mining company by family members other than those administering the estates.
A spokeswoman for Arch Coal, which earlier this year bought ICG, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
The new settlements were reached by the families of miners Tom Anderson, Jerry Groves, George Hamner, Jerry Jones, Jackie Weaver and Marshall Winans. Previous wrongful-death settlements were reached by the families of miners James Bennett, Marty Bennett, Terry Helms, David Lewis and Fred Ware. The family of one miner who died, Martin Toler, did not sue.
At about 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 2, 2006, an explosion ripped through the Sago Mine south of Buckhannon. One miner, fireboss Terry Helms, died soon after the blast from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Surrounded by smoke and toxic fumes, 12 other miners took shelter behind a makeshift barricade. Eleven of them died before rescuers reached them more than 40 hours later. Only McCloy survived. Before the deaths last year of 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County, Sago was the worst coal-mining disaster in West Virginia in nearly 40 years.
Federal investigators pointed to a lightning strike as the "most likely" ignition source for the blast, which occurred inside a sealed area of the Sago Mine.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration concluded that stronger seals, proper methane monitoring and the removal of a pump cable from the sealed area where the explosion occurred could have prevented the disaster. MSHA did not cite ICG or its subsidiary, Wolf Run, with any violations contributing to the accident.
Lawsuits filed by the families had cited a long string of safety violations prior to the disaster, the lack of required anti-lightning equipment, lax methane monitoring and poor construction of the mine seals.
An accident at the Hubble Mining Company Number 9 mine at Eolia in Letcher County has claimed the life of one miner.
Initial reports from investigators from the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing indicate the miner died when struck by a piece of equipment in the underground mine. The victim's name has not yet been released pending notification of next of kin.
Investigators from the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing are on-site conducting a preliminary investigation.
This is Kentucky's seventh mining fatality in 2011.
RENO, Nev. — Two Nevadans were killed in a mining accident partly because someone wedged a broom handle against a reset button to bypass an alarm that would have shut down the system, federal safety investigators said.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration said Monday that managers of Barrick Goldstrike's Meikle Mine are responsible for the August 2010 accident in Carlin that killed Daniel Noel, 47, and Joel "Ethan" Schorr, 38.
The two Spring Creek men were struck by a pipe that gave way in a ventilation shaft because it was clogged with excessive waste rock material.
MSHA said the pipe overfilled because the broom handle kept the loading system from tripping off. The agency blames managers for failing to ensure the safe operation, inspection and maintenance of the mine.
"Management failed to ensure that the pipe, its support system, and electrical system were maintained in a safe condition to protect all persons who could be exposed to a hazard from any failure of the system," MSHA said in the new report issued Monday.
"Additionally, management failed to maintain the electrical sensors and alarm systems and ensure that these systems could not be by-passed. A broom handle was used to wedge the electrical control panel reset button so the aggregate delivery system would continue to operate and not trip out," the report said.
MSHA issued Toronto-based Barrick six safety violations as a result of the accident. MSHA terminated the last of the safety orders stemming from those violations on June 21 after Barrick constructed a new aggregate delivery system that eliminated the hazards, the agency said.
Amy Louviere, a spokeswoman for MSHA's parent Labor Department in Washington, said now that the investigative report is complete, MSHA officials will begin to consider what, if any, fines are warranted for each of the six safety violations.
Fines can range anywhere from $60 to $220,000 per violation, Louivere said. Once notified of an assessment, a company has 30 days to either pay it or contest it, she said.
Greg Lang, president of Barrick Gold of North America, said the findings "affirm Barrick's belief that every accident is preventable."
"While we have made great progress over many years at Barrick, this tragic accident reminds all of us that we have yet to achieve our goal of zero accidents and zero injuries," Lang said in a statement on Monday. He said the company will thoroughly review MSHA's report "to identify actions that need to be taken to prevent a similar accident at Meikle or any other Barrick mine."
"Nothing can compensate for the impact that the loss of Dan Noel and Ethan Schorr has had on their loved ones and everyone who knew them, and our thoughts and prayers remain with their families," he said.
The men were being lowered in the cage to inspect the pipe when the accident occurred about 2 a.m. on Aug. 12, 2010. Rescue crews found their bodies 32 hours later at an area about 1,300 feet below ground at the mine about 55 miles northwest of Elko and 275 miles northeast of Reno.
It marked the sixth and seventh fatalities at the mine since it opened in 1994.
One worker told investigators he had been asked to be on lookout on the day shift before the accident "because another employee had wedged a broom handle against the electrical control panel reset button and he wanted to be alerted if a supervisor was approaching," MSHA's report said.
MSHA investigators discovered a modified broom handle hidden near the instrument panel reset button.
"The end of the broom handle had been shaped with a notch of the correct size to allow it to be used to jam the panel reset button," the report said. "Investigators positioned the broom handle and found it to fit perfectly when wedged between an electrical junction box and the instrument panel reset button."
With the help of some very nice people, I've assembled the national champions and top finishers of the past National Coal and Metal/Nonmetal Mine Rescue Contests.
It goes way beyond what's currently on the MSHA web site.
If you like to contribute information, I’ll gladly take anything you have in any format available. Paper copies can be mailed to PO Box 1010, Uniontown, PA. 15401.
Be sure to include a return address and it will be returned to you.
A coal mine accident left more than 40 people trapped underground in southwest China's Yunnan Province Thursday, local authorities said.
The accident took place at about 6:25 a.m. at the Sizhuang Coal Mine in Shizong County, Qujing City, the city government announced in a statement.
The statement referred to the accident as a "gas explosion" but a spokesman with the Yunnan Provincial Emergency Response Office referred to it as a "gas leak."
The exact number of miners working underground has yet to be confirmed.
A rescue operation has been launched, the statement said.
Nineteen miners have died after a coal-mine gas leak accident in the southwest province of Yunnan Thursday, as hundreds of rescuers have been dispatched to save another 24 people trapped underground, local authorities said.
The accident occurred around 6:30 am at the Sizhuang Coal Mine in Shizong county in the city of Qujing, the Yunnan Provincial Emergency Response Office announced in a statement.
A rescue operation is underway, involving about 30 firemen, 100 professional rescuers and 300 medical workers, the statement said.
Two emergency communication command vehicles, six fire trucks and more than 30 ambulances have also been dispatched by local authorities.
The Qujing municipal government said earlier a "gas explosion" had ripped through the mine.
The exact number of miners working underground at the time of the accident is still under investigation.
Luo Lin, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, ordered local authorities to go all out to save the trapped miners.
Zhao Tiechui, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, and Peng Jianxun, deputy director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety are en route to Qujing to oversee the rescue efforts.
The privately-run Sizhuang Coal Mine reports an annual output capacity of 90,000 tonnes.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – A Chinese mine where 21 workers were killed on Thursday and 22 more remain trapped was being operated illegally. The pit, in the southwestern Yunnan province, lost its licence a year ago.
A huge rescue operation is still underway at the mine, but rescue workers are still concerned about another sudden release of gas like the one that caused the collapse of the mine.
The ground itself is sandy and any intervention might worsen the situation. A day later, no survivors have been found yet.
Relatives of the miners have gathered at the Sizhuang mine in Yunnan province's Qujing city.
This is the second mining accident in less than a week. On 5 November, eight miners died in an explosion at a pit in Qianqiu, Henan, which belongs to the state-owned Henan Yima Coal Mine Group.
Despite apparent efforts by the central government to clean up the mining sector and enforce safety regulations, China’s thirst for energy comes at a hefty price.
Without much oil in relation to its vast territory, the mainland still has to rely heavily on natural gas and coal. However, most mines do not enforce minimum safety standards.
The official death toll in pits has come down from a high of about 7,000 in 2002 to 2,433 last year, which is still six deaths a day; however, many believe that official figures mask the thousands of deaths that are concealed by companies with the complicity of local Communist officials.
Seven miners are trapped underground after a flooding occurred early Sunday morning in a coal mine in Northwest China's Gansu province, local work safety watchdog said.
The provincial production safety administration said the flooding happened at the wee hours in Sigeshan Tongda Coal Mine in Jingtai county. Rescuers are pumping water out of the coal mine.
Death toll rises to 34 in China coal mine gas leak
Associated Press
November 13, 2011
BEIJING — Thirty-four miners are now confirmed dead in a gas leak at a coal mine in southwestern China. Another nine miners are still trapped.
A powerful gas leak hit one underground platform of the Sizhuang Coal Mine in Yunnan province on Thursday and spread to another platform, trapping 43 miners.
It was China’s second deadly mining accident in less than a week. China’s coal mines are the deadliest in the world.
The duty official at the Yunnan Provincial Work Safety Administration said Sunday that 34 miners were confirmed dead and that the search for the missing nine continues. He refused to give his name, as is common with Chinese officials.
The official Xinhua News Agency says the mine was operating illegally and that the mine’s bosses have been detained.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Each year, people are killed and maimed by explosions of finely powdered wood, metal or chemicals at factories around the country. Safety experts have studied the threat posed by dust at industrial sites for nearly a decade, yet tighter regulations are still years away.
Among the reasons for the delay are a cumbersome rulemaking process and disagreement among federal agencies about how to best tackle the problem. Meanwhile, workers continue to die.
Combustible dust has been linked to at least six deaths at factories this year, five of them in separate accidents at a Tennessee plant that makes metal powders for automotive and industrial uses. Another worker was seriously injured by a fireball that investigators blame on an accumulation of iron dust at the same Hoeganaes Corp. plant in Gallatin, Tenn.
"The science of explosion control is pretty simple. It's not rocket science," said retired University of Michigan Professor of Aeronautical Engineering Bill Kauffman. "If you can see your footprint or can write your name on the wall, it's going to explode."
These industrial sites are regulated separately from grain handling facilities like the one that exploded last month in Kansas, also killing six. While that tragedy served as a reminder of the dangers for grain industry workers, experts say there are even fewer protections for their 2.5 million counterparts around the country in other industries susceptible to dust explosions.
In an inspection prior to the deadly explosions in Tennessee, dust hazards weren't checked. Hoeganaes (HAY'-gan-eez) was fined days before the second fatal blast, but not for breaking rules meant to prevent dust explosions — because there are none. The plant continues to operate.
That frustrates Mitchel Corley, whose younger brother died from injuries caused by one of the explosions.
"Yes. I'm mad. Absolutely. They knew for certain that dust was flammable," he said of the company.
Figures compiled by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board illustrate the scope of the problem. A 2006 study reported there were at least 281 dust explosions in the U.S. between 1980 and 2005 that killed 119 workers and injured 718. In 2007, it recommended that the Occupational Health and Safety Administration create workplace rules to control dust and cut down on explosions. The Chemical Safety Board is charged with investigating industrial accidents, but it must rely on regulatory agencies like OSHA to effect change from its findings.
"Despite the seriousness of the combustible dust problem in industry, OSHA lacks a comprehensive standard to require employers in general industry to implement the dust explosion prevention and mitigation measures," the Chemical Safety Board wrote in its 2007 report.
OSHA decided instead to initiate a National Emphasis Program that stepped up education and inspections at plants in key industries. While the aim is to reduce dust explosions, inspectors have had to use regulations related to worker training and housekeeping because dust-specific rules are still being developed. The Chemical Safety Board says the rules currently being used are insufficient for preventing dust explosions.
Figures from the Chemical Safety Board indicate dust explosions have happened just as often since it asked for stricter dust rules. There have been at least 35 explosions with 26 dead and 128 hurt since the beginning of 2008.
At the Hoeganaes plant in Tennessee, two workers were killed after a January blast blamed on iron dust. In March, while that accident was still under investigation, a second explosion at the factory created a fireball that seriously injured another worker.
Then a third blast, in May, killed three more Hoeganaes workers just days after Tennessee's Occupational Health and Safety Administration fined the plant for 12 worker safety violations from the earlier two accidents.
The safety board's statistics show it is unusual for one plant to have so many dust explosions in such a short time. It investigated the accidents and found that company officials knew the dust that covered flat surfaces all over the plant was explosive.
Chemical Safety Board Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso said in June that the plant should not reopen until it was completely redesigned, but the board does not have the power to close the plant.
The Hoeganaes plant wasn't redesigned, but it did reopen after what company Vice President of Human Resources Mike Mattingly in May called "a comprehensive safety review." He declined to be interviewed for this story.
The Hoeganaes plant's last inspection before the explosions had been in 2008, and the inspector did not look for dust hazards or even enter production areas. That's despite Tennessee's participation in the National Emphasis Program. According to a Tennessee OSHA official, Hoeganaes wasn't on an OSHA list of plants considered to be at high risk for dust explosions.
Assistant Labor Secretary Jordan Barab says he believes it's too early to assess the effectiveness of the program.
A 2009 OSHA status report found that inspectors had issued more than 4,900 citations at targeted factories in a little under two years. On average, those factories received twice as many citations as facilities not targeted by the program.
Since OSHA does not regulate dust directly, inspectors most frequently issued citations for violations of the so-called "hazard communication standard," which requires employers to make workers aware of hazards and how to avoid them, and the "housekeeping standard," which requires employers to keep the workplace clean.
The report did not draw any conclusions about the program's effectiveness.
"We have a lot of data collected, but it's too early to do an outcome-based analysis," Barab said in an interview.
In 2009, three years after the Chemical Safety Board recommended OSHA adopt rules specific to combustible dust, the latter agency began the rulemaking process. But there are numerous steps required before any new rules are implemented. The agency has to consider the cost to the industry as well as worker safety.
"It is going slower than we would have liked, but it's a very big issue. There are a lot of different industries dealing with a lot of different dusts," Barab said.
Similar rules for different workplaces have paid off. OSHA has had regulations governing combustible dust in grain handling facilities since 1987, and a 2003 review of those rules by OSHA found they had reduced deaths from grain dust explosions by 70 percent. Those rules are very specific. Grain dust is not allowed to accumulate on surfaces to a depth of more than 1/8 inch in defined "priority areas" of the facilities.
In the aftermath of the Kansas explosion, experts said the facilities generally are safer than ever, but that only so much can be done to prevent deadly blasts.
The coal mining industry also has rules to prevent dust explosions that require noncombustible rock dust to be sprayed throughout a mine.
Not everyone thinks the OSHA's process for implementing rules for other industries needs to be complicated.
Kauffman, the retired professor, advised OSHA on its 1987 grain dust rules and acted as an expert witness on a panel this May that was convened to discuss new combustible dust regulations. Kauffman said the grain dust regulations were originally opposed by industry as too costly, but they were so effective that those same industries soon embraced them.
The slow pace of OSHA's rulemaking angers Mitchell Corley, whose brother was killed at the Hoeganaes plant.
The Chemical Safety Board found that Hoeganaes submitted 23 dust samples from the Gallatin facility to an independent laboratory last year, and 14 were found to be combustible.
But Corley, who still has friends working at the plant, said the problem was obvious to everyone there, even without a laboratory analysis.
Speaking of his brother, Corely said, "He had talked about the dangers. He knew he worked in a dangerous facility. Like all the guys who worked there every day, he didn't think it would happen to him. You gotta think that way."
Despite Wayne Corley's severe burns, the family hoped he would recover. He died May 21, leaving a wife and four children, ages 11 to 3.
"The little ones are doing pretty good," Corley said. "It's hard for them to comprehend. They've got a 'Daddy star' and they look up at the sky and tell him 'Hi.'"
Chinese Police Detain Boss Who Faked Being Trapped With Miners
Associated Press
November 14, 2011
BEIJING – Chinese police detained a mine boss who smeared coal on his face to pretend he had been in the shaft where 34 miners died and nine are still trapped, state media said Monday.
Mine bosses who don't go underground with their workers face severe punishments under a rule imposed last year to improve safety. Chinese mines are still the world's most dangerous, though death rates have been lowered significantly.
A powerful gas leak at the Sizhuang Coal Mine in Yunnan province Thursday trapped 43 miners. Thirty-four bodies have been recovered, while rescuers were still trying to reach nine miners still trapped Monday. Gas inside the mine and the risk of explosions were hampering efforts, Xinhua News Agency said.
The People's Daily reported that Qi Guming, deputy head of the coal mine, has been taken into custody on suspicion of faking evidence, citing a briefing by the rescue command office.
After the accident, Qi "rushed down the shaft and smeared coal on his face to pretend he had escaped from underground," the newspaper said. "On Sunday ... the public security authority confirmed that Qi did not go down the shaft on that day, and made false claims to the rescue command office."
The regulation that took effect last year calls for mines that violate the rules to pay between 150,000 and 5 million yuan ($22,400 to $750,000) in fines, depending on whether the mine also suffers serious accidents. Bosses can be fined between 10,000 yuan ($1,500) and up to 80 percent of their income from the previous year and face a lifetime ban on mine supervision work.
Xinhua has said that the Sizhuang Coal Mine's license was revoked in April and that it was operating illegally.
The incident was China's second deadly mining accident in less than a week. In the previous accident, eight miners died and 52 were rescued from a mine in Henan province after a cave-in.
And on Monday, rescuers were pumping water out of a coal mine that flooded early Sunday in northwestern Gansu province, trapping seven workers. The miners still have not been located and it is not known whether they are alive, Xinhua quoted Fan Shijie, chief of the local work safety supervisory management bureau, as saying.
Fan said coal mine managers there failed to work underground as required, and further investigation was under way.
China closed many smaller, illegal mines in recent years as part of its safety efforts. Annual fatalities are now about one-third of the high of nearly 7,000 in 2002.
LOUELLEN, Ky. (AP) - A Harlan County man has died nearly two weeks after suffering injuries when the bulldozer he was driving overturned at a surface mine.
State officials say 28-year-old David J. Middleton, of Baxter, died Monday at Wellmont Holstien Valley Hospital in Kingsport, Tenn.
Middleton was doing reclamation work on a highwall at Nally and Hamilton Enterprise's Mill Branch Mine on Nov. 2 when the bulldozer flipped several times and landed in the road, according to reports from federal mining officials. Middleton suffered head injuries and was found unconscious.
It was the eighth mining-related death in Kentucky this year, and the fourth since Oct. 28.
The state Office of Mine Safety and Licensing began providing on-site training and safety reminders to miners and operators this week as a response to the recent deaths.
Beijing : All six trapped miners in a coal mine gas leak accident in central China's Hubei province Tuesday were confirmed as dead, Xinhua quoted authorities as saying.
According to the local authorities, the gas leak happened at about 2 p.m. at the Lengjiawan Coal Mine in Zigui County of the Yichang city.
The gas leak had left six miners trapped underground and by 11 p.m. all the trapped miners were found dead and their bodies were retrieved to the ground, said a release.
The mine, once named "a model mine" in Hubei, was operating legally with an annual production capacity of 60,000 tonnes, said Huang Chun, head of the Yichang city department of work safety.
An investigation into the mine accident is underway.
Meanwhile, in a separate coal mine gas leak accident which occurred last Thursday (Nov 17) in southwest China's Yunnan province, at least 35 of the total 43 trapped miners had died by Tuesday.
The toll risen to 35 after another body was retrieved Tuesday morning from the shaft of the Sizhuang Coal Mine.
Rescuers were busy searching for eight miners still missing in the mine, which is located in Shizong county near Qujing city.
Twelve miners have been trapped in a coal mine that caved in in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, local authorities said Friday.
The accident happened at about 4 am Friday in Yuanlin Coal Mine in Xianghuang Banner (county) of Xilin Gol League, which is about 350 km northeast of the capital city of Hohhot, according to the regional coal mine safety supervision bureau.
The cave-in is the latest in a series of coal-mine accidents to have hit China recently.
On November 10, an underground gas outburst in Southwest China's Yunnan province trapped 43 miners, of whom 35 have been confirmed dead while the other eight remain missing.
On Tuesday, another gas leak in a coal mine in Central China's Hubei province killed six miners.
Seven trapped miners found alive underground in north China
Xinhua
November 19, 2011
Seven trapped miners have been found alive underground a caved-in coal mine in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, according to rescuers.
The accident happened around 3:10 a.m. Friday in Yuanlin Coal Mine in Xianghuang banner (county) of Xilin Gol league, which is about 350 km northeast of the autonomous regional capital city of Hohhot, according to the regional coal mine safety supervision bureau.
At the time of the accident, 13 miners were working underground. One miner escaped.
A rescuer who returned to ground at 8:30 p.m. told Xinhua that the rescue team heard "Help us!" shouted by trapped miners around 5 p.m.
The trapped miners told the rescue team that seven of the 12 trapped were together and alive, the rescuer said.
Zhao Shuanglian, vice chairman of Inner Mongolia autonomous regional government, has remained in voice contact with the seven miners, while ordering rescuers to speed up the excavation work and to send milk, salt water and other food to the trapped.
The rescuers, however, still need to clear a 20-meter-long collapsed shaft to reach the miners.
Earlier the rescue headquarters said in a statement that the rescue mission, which involved 80 rescuers, had been complicated by 20,000 cubic meters of collapsed rubble, mostly rocks.
An initial investigation found that the mine's floor-to-roof pillars were "insufficient."
The cave-in is the latest in a series of recent coal-mine accidents in China.
On Nov. 10, an underground gas outburst in the southwestern province of Yunnan trapped 43 miners, of whom 35 have been confirmed dead while the other eight remain missing.
On Tuesday, another gas leak in a coal mine in the central province of Hubei killed six miners.
For the second time this year, a miner has died after sustaining injuries while working at Hecla’s Lucky Friday mine.
Brandon Lloyd Gray, 26, was critically injured Thursday while working at the Mullan, Idaho mine. He died early this morning.
A second miner injured in the accident was treated at a hospital and released.
Thursday’s accident comes seven months after Mullan mourned the loss of another Lucky Friday miner. In April, Larry “Pete” Marek was killed when his work area caved in and he was buried under a large rock pile.
Gray, who had been mining since 2008, was working underground when he was trapped in a broken rock bin that was being excavated as a part of the No. 4 shaft project, according to his employer, Cementation U.S.A. The bin had become plugged and when miners dislodged the materials, Gray was engulfed.
Hecla contracted Cementation U.S.A. to carry out the No. 4 shaft project, a $200 million project that will deepen the mine nearly 9,000 feet, and Cementation has been operating at the site since 2009. Hecla officials expect the project to be completed by 2014.
“The whole Cementation family is grieving this terrible loss, and our immediate focus is on supporting Brandon’s family with our assistance and our prayers,” Cementation U.S.A. President Mike Nadon said in a news release.
Following April’s fatal accident, federal investigators said work practices had led to Marek’s death. Hecla was cited for unsafe ground conditions at the Lucky Friday mine during inspections in May, June and August.
A team of Mine Safety and Health Administration representatives and Cementation U.S.A.’s management group are investigating the most recent accident. Cementation officials say the miners involved in Thursday’s accident were wearing proper safety gear.
TRAGEDY struck a rescue operation in a north China colliery today when rescuers found the lifeless bodies of four miners trapped after a cave-in, the government said.
One miner remained missing after the incident Friday morning at the Yuanlin coal mine in Inner Mongolia, the government said in a statement.
The cave-in initially trapped 12 workers, but seven were rescued over two days.
The deaths came after the state-run Xinhua news agency reported yesterday that rescuers had made contact with the five trapped miners and were giving them food and water through a lifeline drilled by rescue workers.
The accident is the latest in an industry plagued by corruption and safety hazards.
Earlier this month, at least 34 workers were killed after a blast at a mine in the southwestern province of Yunnan, state press reported.
China's rapid economic growth has brought rising demand for power. It relies on coal for 70 percent of its energy needs, making it the world's largest consumer of the fossil fuel.
Last year, 2,433 people died in coal mining accidents in the country, according to official statistics - a rate of more than six workers per day.
Labour rights groups, however, say the actual death toll is likely to be much higher, partly due to under-reporting of accidents as mine bosses seek to limit their economic losses and avoid punishment.
Maybe we need Obama here in the UK, as coal mining jobs are at the lowest EVER at the moment. Then again, no you keep him, our jobs will hopefully pick up eventually.
2
5 years ago we had 125,000 coal miners here, now we have less than 4000
Environmental Protection Specialist II (Mine Safety & Rescue Trainer/Inspector)
This position is open only to Colorado state residents.
CLASS TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION SPECIALIST II
LOCATION: Denver, Colorado
PRIMARY PHYSICAL WORK ADDRESS: 1313 Sherman Street, Denver, CO 80203
SALARY: $4,954.00 - $7,109.00 Monthly
FLSA STATUS: Exempt; position is not eligible for overtime compensation.
OPENING DATE: 11/21/11
CLOSING DATE: 12/12/11 11:59 PM
JOB TYPE: Full Time
WHO COMPETES: Individuals eligible for transfer, non-disciplinary (voluntary) demotion, or reinstatement will be required to participate in the competitive assessment process in order to be considered for this vacancy.
DEPARTMENT INFORMATION:
This Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety unit exists to prevent accidents and save lives, protecting those exposed to hazards in and around mines. Establish and implement mine safety training and education programs, conduct training in collaboration with mine operators, miners, state and federal officials; to assist in complying with ATFE (Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives Bureau) regulations regarding the safe use and storage of explosives; to train and protect miners and rescuers during mine site emergencies; to inspect mines as required by statute; and to educate and train those who work in mines.
DESCRIPTION OF JOB:
This Mine Safety Trainer/Inspector position exists to provide safety assessment audits, education and training in compliance with federal standards for those who work primarily at hard rock, sand and gravel, aggregate and coal mines; training necessary to protect rescuers and increase the success rate for victim rescue during mine site emergencies, to inspect mines covered by statute; to train miners in the safe use and storage of explosives; to train mine officials and miners improving performance and skill levels in certified positions; to direct and conduct training activities in cooperation with the Colorado School of Mines at the Edgar Mine Rescue Training Center; and to recommend education and training standards for those who work in mines.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS, SUBSTITUTIONS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:
Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in safety and health, mine safety and health, mining engineering, mine technology, geology and two years of experience in underground and/or surface coal or mineral (non-coal) mining experience. Must have the ability to obtain Instructor Surface (IS), Instructor Underground (IU), and Mine Rescue Trainer (MR) certifications from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Substitutions
Work experience in hard rock, sand and gravel, aggregate and coal mines, along with rescue training and safety may substitute for the education. An advanced degree in a related field may substitute for the education and one year of experience.
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION:
This position requires that the candidate possess mining experience, mine safety and health training experience and an excellent knowledge of the extensive federal and state mine health and safety regulations. In addition to the minimum requirements of graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree appropriate to the assignment and two years of mining experience, the successful candidate must possess the following special requirements:
1.Currently possess a valid driver’s license.
2.Submit to and pass a Mine Rescue physical exam.
3.Possess a strong knowledge of mining technology, both surface and underground, federal and state mine health and safety regulations and other laws.
4.Must possess or be qualified to obtain federal Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) approved instructor certificates for surface instructor (IS), underground instructor (IU) and mine rescue instructor (MR).
HOW TO APPLY: Thank you for your interest. Submit an on-line application by clicking the link below or submit a State of Colorado Application for Announced Vacancy and all supplemental questions according to the instructions provided below. Failure to submit a complete and timely application may result in the rejection of your application. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that application materials are received by the appropriate Human Resources office before the closing date and time listed above.
TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED:
An unofficial copy of transcripts must be submitted at the time of application. Transcripts from colleges or universities outside the United States must be assessed for U.S. equivalency by a NACES educational credential evaluation service. This documentation is the responsibility of the applicant and must be included as part of your application materials. Failure to provide a transcript or credential evaluation report may result in your application being rejected and you will not be able to continue in the selection process for this announcement.
IF NOT APPLYING ON-LINE, SUBMIT APPLICATION TO:
1313 Sherman Street, Room 415, Denver, CO 80203 or fax (303) 866-6499
DEPARTMENT CONTACT INFORMATION:
Linda S. Brown 303 866-2667, ext. 8645
METHODS OF APPOINTMENT: Appointment to the vacancy or vacancies represented by this announcement is expected to be from the eligible list created or the transfer, non-disciplinary (voluntary) demotion or reinstatement applicants. However, there is the possibility that appointment(s), for valid, articulated business reasons may be made by transfer, reinstatement, disciplinary or non-disciplinary demotion, trial service reversion, placement due to return from military service or another method of appointment not stated.
BEIJING (AP) - China says seven men were killed while they were trying to illegally mine the rare earth minerals used in many high-tech products.
The official Xinhua News Agency said their bodies were recovered Monday from where they had been buried in a landslide Saturday in the country's rugged southern region of Guangxi.
The landslide happened after the men poured chemical solutions into holes dug into a hillside in hopes of extracting the elements.
Rare earths are a group of 17 minerals used to make flat-screen TVs, mobile phones, batteries for electric cars, wind turbines and weaponry.
China accounts for 97 percent of global production of rare earths. It has tightened controls over their extraction to shore up prices and prevent environmental damage, but illegal mining continues.
MSHA not catching 'scofflaw violators,' report says
Charleston Gazette
By Ken Ward, Jr.
November 28, 2011
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General have found that federal regulators are not identifying "scofflaw violators" who don't pay mine safety and health fines, allowing those mine operators to avoid debt-collection lawsuits or other enforcement actions.
The department's Mine Safety and Health Administration "does not have an accurate view" of the amount of delinquent fines it is owed or when the violations that drew those fines were committed, according to the Inspector General's report.
"We continue to view MSHA's debt delinquency information as unreliable," the IG said in a 34-page report issued Nov. 18.
The report on MSHA fines comes just seven weeks after another IG investigation found that agency officials publicly overstated their rate for completing required inspections of non-coal mines.
And the IG's latest findings show continuing problems with MSHA's enforcement practices, following the agency's admission in 2008 that it allowed the industry to avoid required monetary penalties for 5,000 safety violations dating back more than a decade.
MSHA chief Joe Main complained that the IG report did not provide a balanced portrayal of his agency's efforts regarding civil penalty assessments and collections.
"I note that the findings ... do not identify MSHA noncompliance with federal statutes or requirements," Main said in an Oct. 17 memo. "Rather, the recommendations refer to modifications of, or adherence to, MSHA internal policies and procedures that in some cases exceed federal requirements."
IG investigators examined MSHA's record collecting fines that were finalized in 2009 and 2010, and found that agency officials had collected 85 percent of the $147 million in penalties.
But MSHA did not always apply collected fines to the account of specific mine operators, or to the particular violations that drew the penalties in the first place.
"If payments did not include sufficient information to determine which penalty the payment was for, MSHA delayed payment application until it gathered the needed information," the IG report said. "As a result, violator debt balances were not up to date and MSHA could not be certain of the delinquency status of individual violator debts."
MSHA wanted to avoid starting debt-collection proceedings for mine operators who had actually paid their fines, but for whom the agency was not able to match payments with fines that were due.
So, MSHA officials in February 2008 created an "Exclusion List." Mine operators on it would not face debt-collection or other enforcement actions for unpaid fines "because of uncertainty caused by unapplied payments."
MSHA officials assured IG investigators that companies on the list were only those that "routinely paid their civil penalties timely."
As of September 2010, MSHA had told IG investigators that the list included penalty cases totaling more than $8 million associated with 133 companies. In all, the "Exclusion List" included 325 mine operators, the IG report said in a footnote.
The exclusion list was created while Richard Stickler was head of MSHA, but Main defended the list in a letter to the Inspector General.
"The Exclusion List has served the purpose of not referring debt to Treasury for which payments have been received, but not yet applied, a significant savings in time and administrative costs for Treasurer, MSHA, and most importantly, the companies that have paid civil penalties that are pending payment application," Main said.
But the IG report said, "MSHA's use of the Exclusion List did nothing to address its problem of not applying payments timely. Instead, it created inconsistent and unfair practices by treating selected violators differently from other violators."
IG investigators warned that MSHA is not catching violators who don't pay their fines, because the agency has never finalized a May 2009 proposal on how to do so.
Using MSHA's proposed policy, IG investigators were able to identify three "scofflaw violators" that MSHA had not previously identified on its own. As of September 30, 2010, these three violators owed a total of nearly $850,000 in unpaid fines, the IG said.
"Without clearly defined policies and procedures to identify all potential scofflaw violators, violators may continue to operate while ignoring the financial consequences and the deterrent that civil penalties are intended to provide," the IG report said.
IG investigators also found that, in each of the 150 cases they examined, MSHA wrote off fines as un-collectable without first complying with agency rules for making such determinations.
"As a result, MSHA lacked assurance that it wrote off only debt that was truly un-collectable and that appropriate tax liabilities were recorded for forgiven debt," the IG report said.
IG investigators also revisited MSHA's failure to assess required fines for nearly 5,000 violations cited between 1995 and 2006. MSHA officials blamed the problem on poor management oversight, a lack of staff training, and a heavier workload.
The IG found that agency officials were only able to go back and issue fines for 134 of those old violations. Agency officials have been able to collect only $61,000 of the $143,000 in fines issued in those cases.
Six miners were killed and another seriously injured in a coal mine accident in east China's Jiangxi province Tuesday morning, local authorities said.
The accident happened at about 8:30 a.m. at the privately-run Xinshan Coal Mine in Ouli township in the city of Xinyu, when a lift loaded with seven miners malfunctioned and fell to the bottom of the mine pit.
A rescue team rushed to the site immediately. The injured miner was sent to the local hospital and is said to be in a stable condition now.
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