Peru: Nine miners rescued after six days underground

CNN

April 11, 2012

Nine Peruvian miners emerged into the daylight Wednesday morning after six days trapped in a collapsed mine.

State television showed the miners leaving the mine, each supported by two rescuers. They wore sunglasses to protect their eyes from the light, after spending so much time in darkness.

For days, a tube snaked down to the collapsed cavern was the only connection the miners had to the surface. It provided them with oxygen, food and water, as well as communication.

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala greeted the miners at the mouth of the mine. The group unfurled the red and white Peruvian flag and waved at television cameras.

"We are happy that this high-risk operation was successful," said Claudio Saenz, a fire department official with knowledge of the rescue efforts.

The miners had been stuck since Thursday in the wildcat Cabeza de Negro mine in southern Peru.

A cave-in over the weekend slowed rescue efforts.

It was not clear what caused the initial collapse.

Humala's government has made a push for illegal mines and miners in Peru to be formalized and regulated so that risks decrease.

After the rescue, he made a similar argument.

"This should lead us to reflect that we have to avoid these kind of risks because the results will not always be like today," he said.

Mining is big business in Peru, which is a major world producer of copper, silver, gold and other minerals.

The ordeal stirred memories of a 2010 Chilean mine collapse in which 33 men were trapped underground for 69 days. All those miners were rescued, pulled one by one from hundreds of meters beneath the Earth's surface with a specially designed capsule.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Coal miners test their skills in Madisonville

14 News WFIE Evansville

By Brett Hoffland

April 11, 2012

HOPKINS CO., KY (WFIE) - In Hopkins County Wednesday morning, coal miners participated in a pre-rescue team competition. It's a contest to evaluate the skills of pre-shift examiners that's put on by the Kentucky Coal Academy in Madisonville.

Miners from all over Kentucky, and even Illinois and Indiana, participated in Wednesday's event.

Representatives say every mine across the nation has to have a pre-shift examiner to make sure the mine is safe before the miners are allowed in, and during this event, those examiners were evaluated on their skills.

Miners were faced with simulated hazards, were required to fix them, and they were judged on their accuracy.

Organizers from Wednesday's event say these contests really sharpen the skills of miners, and they're trying to prevent deadly accidents from happening, like one that happened two years ago.

"We had an explosion that killed 29 guys in West Virginia and I feel like part of that could have been prevented had a better pre-shift examination been done, and some of those hazards found and corrected before miners were allowed to go in and mine coal. So, it's a very important job," said MCC Director of Mine Training, Danny Knott.

Officials say the actual mine rescue competition season starts next month with several events across Western Kentucky.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Mine Emergency Response Academy Competition Results

SurfKY News

April 11, 2012

MADISONVILLE, KY – The Kentucky Coal Academy (KCA) held their 2nd annual Pre-Shift Competition today at the Mine Emergency Response Academy (MERA) in Madisonville.

The purpose of the competition is to test miners' proficiency in inspecting mine conditions between shift changes and identifying any issues that need to be resolved so that incoming workers can be assured of a safe working environment. By law, pre-shift examinations must be made to ensure the safety of the working environment.

In a field adjacent to the academy, judges built a 70 by 120 foot course with rope boundaries, representing a working section of an underground mine shaft. White cards and colored ribbons scattered throughout the course symbolized some common hazards encountered by miners to test their skills in identifying and solving potentially dangerous situations.

Mine Rescue Director for Madisonville Community College, Danny Knott, describes the course: “We have unsafe/unsupported roof, water that’s knee-deep or higher – we have a lot of different hazards in the mine that they have to find and correct if they can safely do so. If they can’t get them corrected, they have to record them in a book so the next person coming on shift will know where they are and correct them. Every mine in the nation has to have these pre-shift examiners go in before the miners to make sure the mine is safe. This is to hone the skills of each ‘pre-shifter’ that goes in the mine and does work.”

In total, 11 pre-shift examiners from many area mines were competing, including Elk Creek, Warrior, Dotiki, River View, Alliance, and Patiki, to name a few. Judges for the competition included state and federal mine inspectors led by head judge, Jeff Clark.

The first and second-place in-state winners were Chad Greenlee (Warrior) and Jason Stewart (Elk Creek), respectively. The award for first-place out-of-state winner went to Adam Sexton (Patiki). An informal, unofficial award went to Rodney “Rhino” Dilbeck, who competed against two of his family members for bragging rights.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

4 found dead, 3 still missing at flooded China coal mine

BNO News

April 12, 2012

NANJING, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- At least four workers have been found dead at a flooded coal mine in eastern China, company officials told state-run media on Wednesday. Three other workers are believed to remain missing.

The accident occurred at around 5:37 p.m. local time on Tuesday when ten miners were working at the Kongzhuang Coal Mine in Peixian county of Jiangsu province, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. Three of the miners were able to escape, but seven others were trapped.

The Datun Coal and Power company, which owns the mine, told Xinhua that four of those trapped were found dead on early Wednesday morning. Xinhua's report on Wednesday gave no indication if anyone was still missing, but an earlier report said seven people were missing before the four bodies were recovered.

On March 16, thirteen miners were killed when an elevator fell out of control and slammed into the bottom of the Shimen Iron Ore Mine in Lucheng township, which is located in Cangshan county in Shandong province. The accident occurred when a steel rope which was carrying the elevator broke, causing it to plummet to the bottom of the pit.

Safety conditions at mines in China have significantly improved in recent years but they remain among the world's most dangerous with 1,083 fatalities in the first seven months of 2011 alone. There were 2,433 fatalities in 2010 and 2,631 in 2009.

China in recent years shut down scores of small mines to improve safety and efficiency in the mining industry. The country has also ordered all mines to build emergency shelter systems by June 2013 which are to be equipped with machines to produce oxygen and air conditioning, protective walls and airtight doors to protect workers against toxic gases and other hazardous factors.

The first manned test of such a permanent underground chamber was carried out in August 2011 when around 100 people - including managers, engineers, miners, medical staff, and the chamber's developers - took part in a 48-hour test at a mine owned by the China National Coal Group in the city of Shuozhou in northern China's Shanxi Province.

One of the worst mining accidents in China in recent years happened in November 2009 when 104 workers were killed after several explosions at a coal mine in Heilongjiang province.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Through the link below are details on an upcoming  April 24^th Workshop on Mine Safety:  Essential Components of Self-Escape at the National Academies Keck Center in Washington, D.C. RSVP information is included. 

Please feel free to share with interested colleagues:

http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bohsi/Mine_Safety_workshop.html

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

The Kinross Gold Corporation is world leader in gold mining industry.  Kinross
is a Canadian-based gold mining company with its head office in Toronto, and
mines and projects in the United States, Canada, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador,
Ghana and Mauritania, and employs approximately 7,000 people worldwide.

Kinross is currently seeking a Senior Safety Specialist for an underground gold
mine that is located in Republic, Washington.  The Buckhorn mine was originally
conceived as an open pit mine, but was redesigned into an underground mine. 
Kettle River is the gold milling facility.

The Senior Safety Specialist will conduct activities related to employee health
and safety.  This role will conduct health and safety programs, analyze and
interpret health and safety regulatory compliance information. This individual
must keep on top of the health and safety trends within the mining industry and
incorporate this information to work assignments.

Kinross is seeking a professional with Bachelor's Degree, has a minimum of five
years of safety and health experience including Industrial Hygiene testing, be a
certified MSHA Instructor and is knowledgeable of state, federal, MSHA OSHA
regulations as they pertain to the mining industry.

For more information or if you would like to apply please follow the link below
or send an email to rh@....

http://www.smartrecruiters.com/miningjobs4u/709872-senior-safety-specialist

Feds probe claim MSHA warned W.Va. mine of visits

Associated Press

April 13, 2012

Prosecutors are investigating a suggestion by the former superintendent of the Upper Big Branch mine that federal inspectors sometimes told Massey Energy employees when they were coming.

An April 2010 explosion at the southern West Virginia operation killed 29 men in the worst U.S. mine disaster in four decades.

The revelation about possible early warnings from MSHA inspectors came in testimony at Gary May's recent plea hearing, under questioning by a judge. U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin tells the Charleston Gazette (http://bit.ly/HQuueW) that he's now following up.

"It goes without saying that government officials have to follow the law like everyone else," Goodwin said, "and if we get leads that raise questions about whether they have, we investigate."

In a prepared statement, MSHA said it had never heard from May until his plea hearing because he refused to testify during several investigations of the blast. MSHA said it will take appropriate action if the Department of Justice obtains and shares evidence of misconduct.

Under federal law, anyone who gives advance notice of an MSHA inspection could get up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Under questioning by the judge last month, May suggested that MSHA inspectors may have told Upper Big Branch workers about their plans, either deliberately or inadvertently.

"Sometimes they would tell us, you know, they'd be back tomorrow or where they were going," he said. "And it went from there to telling everybody that was outside - you know, just scatter word by mouth on the phone - and they would tell whoever was underground.

"It's just something that happened from the time I got there until after I left and happened at every mine I've ever been to," he said.

Berger tried to press the issue, but according to a hearing transcript, May's attorney interrupted.

"When you said earlier that it began with inspectors coming onto the property and saying, 'We'll be back tomorrow,'" the judge said when she resumed, "was it or was it not your intention to indicate that these inspectors were part of the conspiracy that you've told me about, Mr. May?"

"I don't believe it's a conspiracy," May answered, "but I think, in my opinion, if they would let me know that, I would let everyone else know that."

May will be sentenced in August on one count of conspiracy to defraud the federal government for his actions at the former Massey Energy mine, now owned by Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources. May, the highest-ranking mine official charged in the blast so far, is cooperating with federal prosecutors in a continuing investigation.

Former security chief Hughie Elbert Stover, meanwhile, is appealing his conviction and a three-year sentence for lying to investigators and ordering a subordinate to destroy documents.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Nine trapped after another coal mine floods in China

BNO News

April 13, 2012

CHANGZHI, CHINA -- Rescue workers are attempting to free nine mine workers who became trapped on early Friday morning when a coal mine flooded in northern China, state-run media reported.

The incident happened at around 1 a.m. local time on Friday at the Shanfu Coal Mine near the city of Changzhi in Xiangyuan County, which is located in Shanxi province. Only few details about the accident were available as of late Friday evening.

Officials from the Changzhi municipal government told the state-run Xinhua news agency that rescue workers from a nearby mine rushed to the site and are working to drain the pit. Xinhua said the cause of the accident is being investigated, but gave no other details.

Earlier this week, the Kongzhuang Coal Mine in Peixian county of Jiangsu province was also flooded. Of the ten miners who were working at the mine at the time of the accident, three were able to escape while the bodies of four miners were later recovered. Three others are believed to be still missing.

Safety conditions at mines in China have significantly improved in recent years but they remain among the world's most dangerous with 1,083 fatalities in the first seven months of 2011 alone. There were 2,433 fatalities in 2010 and 2,631 in 2009.

On March 16, thirteen miners were killed when an elevator fell out of control and slammed into the bottom of the Shimen Iron Ore Mine in Lucheng township, which is located in Cangshan county in Shandong province. The accident occurred when a steel rope which was carrying the elevator broke, causing it to plummet to the bottom of the pit.

China in recent years shut down scores of small mines to improve safety and efficiency in the mining industry. The country has also ordered all mines to build emergency shelter systems by June 2013 which are to be equipped with machines to produce oxygen and air conditioning, protective walls and airtight doors to protect workers against toxic gases and other hazardous factors.

The first manned test of such a permanent underground chamber was carried out in August 2011 when around 100 people - including managers, engineers, miners, medical staff, and the chamber's developers - took part in a 48-hour test at a mine owned by the China National Coal Group in the city of Shuozhou in northern China's Shanxi Province.

One of the worst mining accidents in China in recent years happened in November 2009 when 104 workers were killed after several explosions at a coal mine in Heilongjiang province.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Ex-mine safety chief, W.Va. school accused of fraud

Associated Press

April 14, 2012

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – Federal documents filed by a NASA fraud investigator indicate a former head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the Catholic college in West Virginia where he works conspired for six years to misuse millions of grant dollars from the space agency for personal gain and the school's benefit.

The allegations are contained in an affidavit that an agent in the NASA Office of Inspector General used to obtain search warrants in an active criminal investigation of mine safety expert J. Davitt McAteer and his alma mater and current employer, Wheeling Jesuit University.

Court records show investigators believe McAteer, who has been vice president of the school since 2005, and the school fraudulently billed expenses to federal grant programs or cooperative agreements from 2005 through 2011.

The sworn affidavit by an agent — who works out of the Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, Md. — said those expenses range from McAteer's salary — which surged from $130,300 in 2006 to $230,659 by 2008 — to cellphones, computers, technical support and salaries for other staff, including a secretary in McAteer's Shepherdstown private law office.

In examining five NASA grants, the agent found the duties and salaries of individuals "did not, in any way, benefit the substantive work being done on the federal award projects."

"The motive for (McAteer's) actions is evidenced by the substantial sum of money (Wheeling Jesuit) improperly received," the agent concluded.

The university may have been complicit in five possible federal crimes: theft of federal funds; major fraud; conspiracy; false claims; and wire fraud, the document said.

McAteer's attorney, Stephen Jory, did not immediately return a message Friday night seeking comment. University spokeswoman Michelle Rejonis said late Friday night that she has not seen the document and could not comment.

"With regards to the investigation, we continue to cooperate with federal authorities. Because the investigation is still ongoing, any further comment would be speculative," Rejonis said.

The investigation has been under way since May 2010, involving the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General, the Office of Labor, Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and the National Science Foundation's Office of Inspector General, according to the affidavit.

The document also suggested there's evidence to suggest that MSHA — the agency McAteer ran from 1992 to 2000 — was also defrauded. Among the titles McAteer has held at Wheeling Jesuit was director of the school's Coal Impoundment Project, designed to inform the public of locations of massive coal waste dams.

The affidavit blacks out all names but clearly identifies McAteer as the author of three reports on high-profile coal mine disasters and the book, Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster, The Worst Industrial Accident in U.S. History. McAteer wrote the book, which was published in 2007.

During his time at the school, McAteer has also led independent investigations into three West Virginia mine disasters: the 2006 Sago Mine explosion that trapped and killed 12 men; the 2006 Alma No. 1 mine fire that killed two men; and the 2010 Upper Big Branch explosion, which killed 29.

Among the search warrant requests were "any and all documents" relating to work done on those three reports, including financial documents, travel expense, time cards and interview notes.

The affidavit identifies the university as the institution in Wheeling that was founded in 1954 between the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and the Society of Jesus of the Maryland Province. Wheeling Jesuit University recounts its history the same way on its website.

At least twice, the affidavit said, witnesses interviewed for the investigation warned both McAteer and the school that they were breaking the law. A consulting firm hired in 2008 also made similar warnings, the document said.

"We will slowly work on making this right, but we can't afford to do it at this time," McAteer is said to have told top university officials in response to the consulting firm's conclusion, according to the affidavit.

Documents the agent obtained indicate the school's board of directors deliberately circumvented federal spending rules "for the purpose of sustaining … its general, non-federal program educational areas."

McAteer also is director of its National Technology Transfer Center and its Erma Ora Byrd Center for Education Technologies, which is named for the wife of the late longtime U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd.

The technology transfer center does work on mine safety and health, missile defense, health technology and small business partnerships. The Center for Educational Technologies has housed the NASA-sponsored "Classroom of the Future" program since 1990. The space agency began construction of the center in 1993 and later helped build the educational technologies center.

Between fiscal years 2000 and 2009, NASA gave Wheeling Jesuit more than $116 million, more than $65 million of that after McAteer took over the school's Sponsored Programs Office in 2005.

A finance manager in that office told the investigator that McAteer created the Combined Cost Management Service Center when he took over. Merging the billing of the two centers allowed him "to control and consolidate all the expenses, regardless of whether such expenses were related to the federal awards."

The affidavit calls the handling of federal dollars at Wheeling Jesuit "arbitrary and fraudulent," and cites a 2007 incident in which the Missile Defense Agency "expressed outrage" that McAteer and others weren't working on the agency's program but were still billing 6 percent of the center's expenses to the grant.

In 2008, an unidentified witness sent then-university president Julio Giulietti a letter outlining his concerns that McAteer wanted to charge 75 percent of his salary to the Sponsored Programs Office and 25 percent to the school.

"I cannot legally do this," the employee wrote in a letter marked personal and confidential that was included in the affidavit. "…These matters concern me professionally, ethically and legally."

In correspondence, McAteer denied doing anything wrong and called the employee's charges "absolutely false."

When Giulietti was fired in August 2009, McAteer replaced him as interim president and served until January 2011, when Richard Allen Beyer began work. The school's board never publicly said why Giulietti was let go.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Number of Miners Trapped in Flooded N. China Colliery Revised to 11

Xinhua

April 14, 2012

At least 11 miners, rather than nine as estimated earlier, were confirmed to have been trapped under a coal mine that was flooded early Friday in north China's Shanxi province, a local official said Saturday.

About 230 professional rescuers are racing to pluck the miners out of Shanfu Coal Mine, in Xiangyuan county of Changzhi city, according to Xu Jianjun, deputy secretary of the county's committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Xu said nine miners were from Shanxi province while two others were from other provinces.

Floodwater swept into the mine around 1 a.m. Friday morning. Sources said production at the mine had been suspended prior to the accident as related licenses have expired.

An investigation into the accident is under way.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Nine of 11 miners trapped in flooded colliery dead

Xinhua

April 14, 2012

TAIYUAN - Nine out of 11 miners who were trapped under a flooded coal mine in north China's Shanxi province have been confirmed dead, sources with the rescue headquarters said Saturday.

Rescuers have found nine bodies at Shanfu Coal Mine, in Xiangyuan county of Changzhi city, which was flooded around 1 am Friday morning.

Rescue operation for the two missing miners is continuing, and about 230 rescuers have been sent to the site.

A total of 21 people from the mine, including the owner and the manager, have been taken into custody for inquiries.

The mine's management was suspected of downgrading the accident, initially claiming that only nine miners were trapped.

Local authorities revised on Saturday the number of trapped miners from nine to 11.

Sources familiar with the mine said production at the mine had been suspended prior to the accident as its license expired.

The Shanxi provincial government has set up a joint team to investigate the accident.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

4 dead in NE China coal mine flooding

Xinhua

April 15, 2012

JIAOHE - Four workers have been confirmed dead and rescuers are still fighting the clock to find eight others who have been trapped in a flooded colliery for a week in northeast China's Jilin province.

Rescuers found four bodies in the shaft just before midnight Saturday, said an official with the rescue team Saturday.

Water from a neighboring colliery flooded the Fengxing coal mine in the city of Jiaohe on April 6, when 70 workers were inside the mine shaft.

Fifty-eight of them managed to escape, while 12 remained trapped ever since.

On Saturday, rescuers are still rushing to pump water out of the shaft. However, experts said that chances of survival were slim for the rest eight as conditions underground were not suitable for survival and the "golden 72 hours" for rescue had passed.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Six Remain Trapped in Colliery Flooding

Xinhua

April 15, 2012

Rescuers on Sunday are pumping water out of a flooded coal mine in central China's Henan Province, hoping to reach six miners trapped underground since Saturday afternoon.

Five other miners had been earlier confirmed dead after the flooding occurred at 2 p.m. Saturday at the mine owned by Yulongyuantong Coal Mining Co. in Pingdingshan City.

Rescuers on Sunday morning confirmed 53 miners were under the mine by the time of the accident. Forty-two of them have managed to escape.

A spokesman with the rescue headquarters said the flooding was caused by an outburst of seeper from a disused mining pit adjacent to the mine.

Yulongyuantong Coal Mining Co. is a new subsidiary set up by the Henan Coalbed Methane Development Co. Ltd., which took over the mine on Jan. 17 for renovation and development.

The parent company is China's first state-owned conglomerate specialized in coalbed methane development and recycling coal gas for multipurpose uses.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

6 killed in building collapse, fire accident in China

Xinhua

April 15, 2012

Six people were killed in two different accidents, including an explosion that brought down a four-story building in southern China today.

Five people were killed and four others seriously injured when a building collapsed, after an explosion in a nearby garage in east China's Fujian Province.

Rescuers are searching the debris for survivors.

The accident was triggered by an explosion that ripped through a garage and toppled a four-story building in Daji Village of Longyan City.

The building was a residential complex owned by Shubang Coal Mine.

In another incident, one person was killed and three others injured in a fire in a chemical plant in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The accident happened at Inner Mongolia 3F Fluorochemical Co Ltd in the city of Fengzhen.

A huge amount of flammable gas has been leaked after the chemical plant caught fire and exploded, Xinhua reported.

Some tanks containing VDF gas, a flammable and narcotic gas, on the ground floor of the plant's high-rise workshop caught fire.

Fire fighters rescued three injured workers trapped in the flames, and evacuated other workers out of the building.

Firemen put off the fire and are still clearing embers to prevent secondary explosions, the report said.

The plant, located in the city's industrial park, is 10 km away from the city proper, and the nearest residential area is 3 km away.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

WJU Fraud Allegations Detailed

Wheeling Intelligencer

From Staff, AP Dispatches

April 15, 2012

WHEELING - J. Davitt McAteer has been accused by a NASA fraud investigator of conspiring with Wheeling Jesuit University to use millions of federal grant dollars for personal gain and the school's benefit.

The allegations are contained in an affidavit that an agent in the NASA Office of Inspector General used to obtain search warrants in an active criminal investigation against McAteer and his alma mater and current employer, Wheeling Jesuit University.

Court records on file with the U.S. District Court in Wheeling show investigators believe McAteer and the school fraudulently billed expenses to federal grant programs or cooperative agreements from 2005 through 2011.

The sworn affidavit by an agent who works at NASA's Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, Md., said those expenses range from McAteer's salary - which surged from $130,300 in 2006 to $230,659 by 2008 - to cellphones, computers, technical support and salaries for other staff, including a secretary in McAteer's Shepherdstown private law office.

McAteer is an internationally known expert on mine safety and a former head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. He was hand-picked by West Virginia's former governor, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, to oversee thorough, independent investigations of three coal mine disasters since 2006. The Sago Mine explosion trapped and killed 12 men in January 2006, while the Alma No. 1 mine fire weeks later killed two more. McAteer also issued the first report on the 2010 Upper Big Branch explosion, which killed 29.

The reports he authored are now among the evidence that federal investigators are studying. Among the search warrant requests were "any and all documents" relating to work done on those three reports, including financial documents, travel expenses, time cards and interview notes.

In examining five NASA grants, the agent found the duties and salaries of individuals "did not, in any way, benefit the substantive work being done on the federal award projects."

"The motive for (McAteer's) actions is evidenced by the substantial sum of money (Wheeling Jesuit) improperly received," the agent concluded.

The university may have been complicit in five possible federal crimes: theft of federal funds; major fraud; conspiracy; false claims; and wire fraud, the document said.

McAteer's attorney, Stephen Jory, did not immediately return a message seeking comment. University spokeswoman Michelle Rejonis said she has not seen the document and could not comment.

"With regards to the investigation, we continue to cooperate with federal authorities. Because the investigation is still ongoing, any further comment would be speculative," Rejonis said.

The Most Rev. Michael J. Bransfield, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, said Saturday he has no personal knowledge of the situation at Jesuit, noting he does not serve on the university's board of directors. He said he knows of McAteer from his work investigating the mining accidents.

"My hope is that this can be worked out," Bransfield said, noting he believes university President Richard Beyer is a "very smart man who will get to the bottom of this."

Beyer could not be immediately reached for comment Saturday.

In recent years, Bransfield has fostered a stronger relationship between the diocese and WJU. Last year, the diocese awarded a $1.2 million grant to the university "to boost enrollment and facilitate growth" in the WJU health sciences program.

The investigation has been under way since May 2010, involving the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General, the Office of Labor, Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and the National Science Foundation's Office of Inspector General, according to the affidavit.

The document also suggested there's evidence to suggest that MSHA - the agency McAteer ran from 1992 to 2000 - was also defrauded. Among the titles McAteer has held at Wheeling Jesuit was director of the school's Coal Impoundment Project, designed to inform the public of locations of massive coal waste dams.

The affidavit blacks out all names but clearly identifies McAteer as the author of three reports on high-profile coal mine disasters and the book, "Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster, The Worst Industrial Accident in U.S. History." McAteer wrote the book, which was published in 2007.

The affidavit identifies the university as the institution in Wheeling that was founded in 1954 between the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and the Society of Jesus of the Maryland Province. Wheeling Jesuit University recounts its history the same way on its website.

At least twice, the affidavit said, witnesses interviewed for the investigation warned both McAteer and the school that they were breaking the law. A consulting firm hired in 2008 also made similar warnings, the document said.

"We will slowly work on making this right, but we can't afford to do it at this time," McAteer is said to have told top university officials in response to the consulting firm's conclusion, according to the affidavit.

Documents the agent obtained indicate the school's board of directors deliberately circumvented federal spending rules "for the purpose of sustaining ... its general, non-federal program educational areas."

McAteer also is director of the Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center and Wheeling Jesuit's Erma Ora Byrd Center for Education Technologies, which is named for the wife of the late longtime U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd.

The technology transfer center does work on mine safety and health, missile defense, health technology and small business partnerships. The Center for Educational Technologies has housed the NASA-sponsored "Classroom of the Future" program since 1990. The space agency began construction of the center in 1993 and later helped build the educational technologies center.

Between fiscal years 2000 and 2009, NASA gave Wheeling Jesuit more than $116 million, more than $65 million of that after McAteer took over the school's Sponsored Programs Office in 2005.

A finance manager in that office told the investigator that McAteer created the Combined Cost Management Service Center when he took over. Merging the billing of the two centers allowed him "to control and consolidate all the expenses, regardless of whether such expenses were related to the federal awards."

The affidavit calls the handling of federal dollars at Wheeling Jesuit "arbitrary and fraudulent," and cites a 2007 incident in which the Missile Defense Agency "expressed outrage" that McAteer and others weren't working on the agency's program but were still billing 6 percent of the center's expenses to the grant.

In 2008, an unidentified witness sent then-university president the Rev. Julio Giulietti a letter outlining his concerns that McAteer wanted to charge 75 percent of his salary to the Sponsored Programs Office and 25 percent to the school.

"I cannot legally do this," the employee wrote in a letter marked personal and confidential that was cited in the affidavit. "...These matters concern me professionally, ethically and legally."

In correspondence, McAteer denied doing anything wrong and called the employee's charges "absolutely false."

When Giulietti was fired in August 2009, McAteer replaced him as interim president and served until January 2011, when Beyer began work. The school's board never publicly said why Giulietti was let go.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Police detain 21 in alleged coal mine coverup

China Daily

April 15, 2012

Police have detained 21 people suspected of trying to cover up the death toll from a coal mine accident.

Ten miners were killed and another remains missing after a flood on Friday at an illegal coal mine in Changzhi, Shanxi province.

The owner of the Shanfu Coal Mine originally told authorities that nine workers were trapped.

However, police later discovered that 11 workers were in the shaft when it was flooded with 2,500 cubic meters of water at about 1 am.

About 30 professional rescue workers were sent to the scene, along with nine ambulances and 200 technicians. All of the water had been pumped out of the shaft by 8 pm on Saturday.

The mine's owner and its manager were among those detained, and authorities froze the company's assets.

An official at the State Administration of Work Safety, who declined to be identified, said that under the regulations, concealing an accident that claims the lives of 10 people is punishable with a fine of 5 million yuan ($76,000) and up to seven years in prison.

The administration said the mine did not have a valid production license.

Authorities were unable to confirm whether the mine was private or State-owned when asked by China Daily.

In a separate flooding incident in Henan province on Saturday, five miners were killed and six others remain missing.

The accident happened at 4 pm at a mine owned by Yulongyuantong Coal Mining Corp in Pingdingshan.

Authorities said 53 miners were working in the mine at the time and 42 managed to escape.

On Sunday night, rescuers were still pumping water from the mine and searching for the trapped miners.

According to the work safety administration, the flooding was caused when water flowed in from an abandoned pit. In this case, the mine was licensed.

Wang Shuhe, deputy director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, led a specialized emergency rescue team to the site and supervised the rescue.

Yulongyuantong Coal is a subsidiary of the Henan Provincial Coal Seam Gas Development and Utilization Co, a large energy enterprise owned by the Henan government.

According to reports, 1,973 miners were killed in 1,201 coal mine accidents in China in 2011, with 1,391 of the deaths in small mines.

See more: http://www.usmra.com/chinatable.htm

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Garage blast kills nine, injures dozens

China Daily

April 15, 2012

A four-story residential building in the Xinluo district of Longyan, in East China's Fujian province, collapsed on Sunday after an explosion at a nearby auto repair facility, killing at least nine people and injuring 55, according to the Longyan information office.

It wasn't clear whether people were still trapped in the debris.

According to a preliminary investigation by police, the blast was caused by the illegal storage of explosive materials by a man surmaned Chen, said You Buzheng, spokesman of the Longyan Public Security Bureau.

Chen is under arrest and the investigation is continuing, You said.

"The rescuers are using life detectors and their hands, digging to find trapped people," You said.

A sudden downpour on Sunday evening forced the suspension of rescue work, an anonymous rescuer told China Daily.

At the scene, a China Daily reporter saw the blast had created a crater at least 3 meters deep and 10 meters wide. The hole was covered with a plastic sheet by local police.

More than 10 trucks parked inside the facility were overturned by the explosion, and broken glass shards were everywhere.

The collapsed building was still standing, though one side was destroyed.

Ambulances took the injured to hospitals all afternoon.

Guo Zhaolong, an official of the Xinluo district who arrived at the scene, told Xinhua News Agency that the explosion is still under investigation.

Local media reported the residential building belongs to the coal mine of Subang village in Yanshi town, while the auto repair facility is managed by the village head, who was eating with the staff inside.

Wang Chengqiong, a worker at the Subang coal mine, was slightly injured. From the Longyan hospital, he told taihainet.com, a website managed by the Fujian Daily, that he was sleeping on the third floor of the residential building at the time of the blast.

After hearing the explosion, he ran as fast as he could downstairs.

Zhang Zhaomin, mayor of Longyan, and Huang Xiaoyan, secretary of the Longyan Party committee, said a comprehensive building safety inspection campaign will be carried out in the city.

See photo

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

12 Confirmed Dead in NE China Colliery Flood

Xinhua

April 16, 2012

Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of 12 colliery workers who died in last week's coal mine flood in northeast China's Jilin Province, authorities said Monday.

Eight bodies were retrieved from the pit of the Fengxing Coal Mine in the city of Jiaohe early on Monday, 10 days after the accident, the local work safety bureau said in a press release.

The statement said that at least 20,000 cubic meters of water poured into the shaft on April 6. Of the 70 people working in the pit, 58 escaped.

Rescuers spent about a week draining flood water from the shaft before they were able to reach the first four trapped miners, all of whom were found dead, on April 13.

Fengxing was a licensed, privately-run mine.

Investigators said the flood water came from a neighboring state-owned colliery.

In another recent mining tragedy, five miners were killed and four remained trapped in a flooded colliery pit in central China's Henan Province.

The flooding in the city of Pingdingshan was reported Saturday afternoon, and rescue work continued on Monday.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Three workers remain missing in blast in E China

Xinhua

April 16, 2012

Two men and a woman were confirmed missing in a blast that killed nine people and injured 55 in Longyan, in Fujian province, local authorities said on Monday.

The three people, who were not found in hospitals or funeral homes by local police, are workers at an auto repair facility in Subang village, in Longyan's Xinluo district, which was destroyed in an explosion at about 10:30 am on Sunday.

"Our rescue team found pieces of human limbs in the debris. Until medical tests are completed, we will not know whether the three people were killed in the accident," You Buzheng, spokeswoman of the Longyan public security bureau, said on Monday.

You said it was still not known whether there were victims buried in the rubble. She added that the search of the site would continue.

Sunday's blast ripped through the auto repair facility, toppling a nearby four-story residential building. Thirty-six people were hospitalized, three of whom were in serious condition, according to authorities.

The police discovered that the accident was due to the illegal storage of explosives in the 600-square-meter garage, owned by Chen Qinrong, who is also the head of Subang village.

Chen, a suspect in the accident, was arrested when he tried to escape from the scene, You said. But she refused to disclose why Chen stored the explosives there or how they exploded while the case was under investigation.

Local media reported that Chen was giving a banquet in his garage and many workers were there when the accident took place.

Xie Nanshan, a 36-year-old driver who works at the garage, said he was washing his car in front of the auto repair facility's gate when the blast occurred.

"First, I saw a sudden outbreak of fire, then a row of motorcycles in the garage were blasted off, followed by a big 'bang' and a shockwave that overturned me," he said, while lying on a bed in Longyan First Hospital, with nasotracheal tubes and bandages on his hands and legs.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I regained consciousness. People were lying on the ground silently, and buildings, cars and the brick wall were destroyed into rubble. My body hurt so much and I felt like falling apart. Then the local residents came to my rescue, following the ambulance that took me to the hospital."

Wang Yousheng, a 51-year-old worker in the coal mine of Subang village, was sleeping on the second floor of the residential building when the accident happened.

"I heard my workmate hastily knock on my door and shout: 'Run away'. I was about to escape, but the whole door was blasted off," he recalled.

"I made my way downstairs through the dark dust and saw that many of my neighbors were injured and trying to flee from the building," he said.

Qiu Yongrong, deputy head of the Longyan First Hospital, said the hospital was giving medical treatment to most of those injured in the accident.

Two of the people in serious condition, a man and a woman, were still in the hospital's intensive care unit. A medical expert panel had been organized to observe their condition, Qiu said.

The third victim, a man, was said to be in critical condition at Longyan Second Hospital.

Longyan, an inland city in Fujian that borders the provinces of Guangdong to the south and Jiangxi to the west, is rich in natural resources.

The city government plans to carry out a comprehensive inspection of illegal explosives throughout its districts and villages, after the deadly explosion.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

NIOSH, MSHA discussing what to do with 70,000 potentially defective air packs in US coal mines

Associated Press

April 18, 2012

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two years of testing have found a critical defect in a certain model of emergency breathing devices used in U.S. coal mines, but federal regulators have no immediate plans to remove the more than 70,000 air packs that could remain in use.

The SR-100 self-contained self-rescuers are belt-worn air packs about the size of three cake-mix boxes. They hold chemicals that help recycle exhaled breath, giving miners about an hour of oxygen and, hypothetically, time to seek refuge or escape from a fire or explosion.

The Charleston Gazette (http://bit.ly/I4gc7h) says the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health issued a report this week concluding the model manufactured by CSE Corp. of Monroeville, Pa., failed too many tests and therefore has a critical flaw.

NIOSH says five out of 500 randomly sampled SR-100 units had oxygen starters that failed.  Under federal rules, no more than three in 500 can fail for NIOSH to remain confident.

The failure rate, the report said, means the units "no longer conform to the minimum requirements for the certification."

CSE "could not identify a systemic cause or otherwise confine the failure to within certain lots," the report said. "Therefore, the failure could exist among all field-deployed units."

CSE President Scott Shearer said Wednesday the company voluntarily stopped production of the SR-100 when internal quality-control teams identified problems. It has since redesigned the starter system and replaced the device with the SRLD model.

"We changed out the guts of the unit," Shearer said, "and made further improvements to internal and external parts so the engine is beefed up."

Sago Mine survivor Randal McCloy said some SR-100s failed after the 2006 explosion that trapped and killed 12 of his co-workers.

The new model holds more chemicals, he said, and provides more oxygen at a faster rate.

NIOSH said it's discussing the problem of the old air packs with the Mine Safety and Health Administration, which didn't immediately comment.

In 2010, CSE said it had recalled about 4,000 suspect units but later acknowledged it hadn't ordered coal companies to stop using them.

Shearer reiterated his commitment to working with the federal agencies but said he's had no directives from either so far.

He also said the number of SR-100s in use is now likely fewer than 70,000. Some have likely been replaced with competitors' devices, he said, while operators have likely removed others because of "normal wear and tear and attrition."

The old units are believed to have failed in at least one major mine disaster.

Sago Mine survivor Randal McCloy told investigators that several SR-100s his crew was carrying failed after a 2006 explosion that trapped 13 men. Only McCloy survived the 40-hour wait for rescuers.

The device has long been the focus of complaints from miners who worried that it either started slowly or wouldn't start at all.

Information from: The Charleston Gazette, http://www.wvgazette.com

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Five miners die in Brazilian elevator accident

New Zealand Herald

April 22, 2012

Five miners died on Saturday in a elevator accident at an emerald mine in northeastern Brazil.

The elevator the workers were riding in crashed down its shaft from a height of 100 metres when the steel cable broke that pulled it up and let it down.

The accident occurred in a mine worked by gemstone artisans on the Carnaiba mountains in the Pindobacu municipality, some 400km from Salvador.

The elevator was a fairly primitive structure consisting of a small cabin suspended from a cable, the daily A Tarde reported.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Kentucky Darby mine operators have yet to pay for 2006 blast that killed 5

Louisville Courier-Journal

By James R. Carroll

April 22, 2012

WASHINGTON — Nearly six years after an explosion killed five miners at Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County, the operators have not paid nearly $700,000 in civil fines and interest fees for safety violations connected to the accident.

Kentucky Darby admitted liability for the unpaid fines under an agreement finalized in January 2010 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky in London, according to court documents.

And the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has referred Kentucky Darby’s delinquent fines to the Treasury Department for collection. MSHA also obtained a 20-year lien on Kentucky Darby property in March 2010, federal court records show.

Meanwhile, Ralph Napier, a former operator of the Darby Mine, is still mining coal in Kentucky as the vice president of companies operating at least two active mines in Harlan County, records at the Kentucky secretary of state’s office show.

Those two operations — K & D Mining Inc., which runs Mine No. 17, and Neco Energy Inc., which runs Mine No. 2 — currently owe at least $637,000 in delinquent penalties for about 400 safety violations, according to MSHA and a Courier-Journal analysis of the agency’s data on citations and penalties.

MSHA chief Joseph Main said in an interview that as a result of The Courier-Journal’s findings, his agency is taking a close look at the connections among Kentucky Darby, K & D and Neco.

“They are on our radar screen. … Mine operators should not be allowed to walk away from their responsibilities for this,” Main said.

Collecting unpaid fines is a major problem for MSHA and the federal government.

Coal mines, metals mines, quarries and related operations under MSHA’s jurisdiction have run up $71.3 million in overdue fines over more than a decade, according to an analysis of data through 2011 by the office of U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. Delinquent penalties owed by active coal mines and mines that operate intermittently totaled $23.8 million.

“It is unconscionable that in the 21st century, coal mine operators can kill or maim miners without suffering any repercussions, not even the payment of inadequate fines for their admitted safety violations,” said Tony Oppegard, a former state and federal mine-safety official.

Now an attorney in Lexington, Ky., Oppegard represented the spouses of four of the Kentucky Darby victims.

The ability of people connected to Kentucky Darby to keep mining while failing to pay massive sums of fines underscores the weakness of federal mine-safety laws, survivors of the dead miners, mine-safety advocates and lawmakers said.

“There’s been no justice. These men lost their lives, and nothing’s been done,” said Priscilla Petra, 49, wife of George William “Bill” Petra, one of those killed in the 2006 Kentucky Darby explosion.

“It really upsets me,” said Mary Middleton, 37, wife of Roy Middleton, another of the miners killed. “Sometimes I feel like it was in vain, like no one cares.”

Napier did not respond to a request for comment. The attorney for Kentucky Darby did not respond to a request to comment.

The phones at Neco Energy’s Mine No. 2 were not answered. A guard who answered the phone at K & D said he did not know where to reach mine officials.

A mine-safety-reform bill, sponsored by Miller and Rep. Lynn Woolsey, another California Democrat, crafted in consultation with MSHA, includes a provision that would give the federal government the power to shut down mines that run up delinquent fines. The measure is stalled in the House.

The power to issue closure orders to scofflaw operators “has a lot more up-front impact in the ability to collect fines,” Main said. “Mines that operate and rack up fines and do not pay their bills need to be held accountable under the law.”

Asked about the Kentucky Darby case, Miller said in a statement that “it’s unacceptable that mine operators are allowed to operate ‘business as usual’ while owing millions of dollars in outstanding fines stretching back years.”

“It’s clear that MSHA needs better tools to collect overdue fines for safety violations and needs to make sure that operators aren’t able to dodge fines if they open new mines under a different name,” he said.

The chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., recently said “all options remain available” regarding enactment of new safety measures. Responding to the outstanding Kentucky Darby fines, Kline said in a statement that “mine operators have a responsibility to protect their workers and follow the law.”

“If mine operators are found guilty of violating health and safety standards, they must accept the consequences of their actions without any unnecessary delay,” he said.

Under MSHA policy, civil penalties are considered delinquent if they are overdue for 180 days or more. After that, MSHA refers the unpaid penalties to the Treasury Department for collection. That is where the Kentucky Darby fines remain. Fines incurred by the other mines connected with Napier also have been referred to Treasury.

Treasury officials declined to comment, saying the agency does not discuss a specific case of delinquent penalties but would inform MSHA of any developments. When possible, the Treasury Department can collect unpaid fines by intercepting any government funds due the debtor, such as tax refunds or contractor payments.

Kentucky Darby’s outstanding fines were among the largest among mining companies in the nation last year, according to a survey by Mine Safety and Health News.

Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1 in Holmes Mill was rocked by a blast at 1 a.m. on May 20, 2006. MSHA investigators determined that methane gas from an improperly built seal leaked into an area where miners were using an acetylene torch to cut some metal roof straps. The torch ignited the gas.

MSHA said Kentucky Darby “did not observe basic mine safety practices and ... critical safety standards were violated.”

Three of six major violations showed “reckless disregard” for safety, according to MSHA, while three others showed a high degree of negligence by the company.

In addition to Bill Petra, who was 49, and Roy Middleton, 35, the victims were Jimmy Lee, 33; Amon “Cotton” Brock, 51, the mine foreman; and Paris Thomas Jr., 53. A sixth miner, Paul Ledford, survived.

Kentucky Darby never resumed operations after the accident, and the mine was sealed in November 2006.

The abandonment of the mine raised concerns at the time among safety advocates and miners’ families that efforts to collect penalties would be more difficult. State and federal regulators insisted that would not be the case.

Oppegard said his worries have proved well-founded.

“If Mr. Napier or any other operator can’t pay outstanding mine-safety fines, then they should not be allowed to operate another mine,” Oppegard said. “We all know what will happen if there is a disaster at Mr. Napier’s current operation. Just like at Kentucky Darby, he won’t pay a penny in fines, and he’ll go elsewhere in Harlan County and open another mine under the name of a new company.

“That is not the way the system is supposed to work. The message it sends to coal miners and their families is, ‘You’re nothing but a worthless coal miner. Your life has no value,’ ” he said.

That is how Middleton and Petra feel.

“It’s so disturbing, we just can’t understand it,” said Middleton, who has 13- and 19-year-old daughters and lives near Vedra, Ky. “You can’t get no clear answer to why” the Kentucky Darby owners are still running mines.

Petra, a second-grade teacher who lives in Pineville, Ky., has a 24-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter. She said it makes her angry that the operators of Kentucky Darby remain in the mining business.

“You can be on the highway and have an accident and take someone’s life, and you have to pay for that,” Petra said. Coal operators are supposed to take safety precautions ... but you can skip all that and cause the deaths of these men and you can get away with it.”

MSHA records show that both K & D Mining and Neco Energy are headquartered at the same address in Speedwell, Tenn. Jack H. Ealy is listed as the president of both companies in state records.

K & D Mining and Neco Energy both were given mining licenses in 2011 by Kentucky’s Office of Mine Safety and Licensing, the agency’s records show.

K & D Mining, which started its Harlan County operations in February 2010, has at least 223 delinquent fines totaling $579,000, including interest, for safety violations back to March 2010, according to MSHA.

Napier’s other company, Neco Energy, has 167 delinquent fines totaling $58,723 for safety citations back to November 2010. Neco started operating that mine in October 2010.

Kentucky’s Office of Mine Safety and Licensing granted mining licenses to K & D and Neco. Outstanding federal fines do not affect that licensing, according to agency spokesman Dick Brown.

“The Office of Mine Safety and Licensing, as well as the other agencies within the Energy and Environment Cabinet, do not have the authority to shut down mining operations for unpaid MSHA penalties,” Brown said. “The Cabinet believes MSHA’s best remedy for collecting unpaid penalties is through the courts.”

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Company wants to grow quality medical marijuana in old mine

WZZM

April 22, 2012

WHITE PINE (Detroit Free Press) -- In this hard-luck town in Michigan's western Upper Peninsula, rumors persist of a company growing pot deep in the bowels of a former copper mine nearby.

In 2010, the rumors got so bad, the State Police contacted the owners and asked to inspect the White Pine Mine sometime in the next couple of days.

"No, right now," SubTerra official Mark Pierpont said he told them, not wanting lingering suspicions that he had spent a day hiding a stash of marijuana.

Trooper Timothy Rajala later reported how he "entered the mine in a vehicle which we drove approximately 1 mile underground" before reaching a sealed and brightly lit chamber he could only enter after washing down his feet and putting on clean clothes.

Inside, Rajala "noted several plants that were not narcotic," he wrote. "There was no evidence of marijuana nor any signs of suspicious activity."

Still, Rajala's tip had a grain of truth.

The mine's owners want to use its underground chambers to create the state's largest pot farm with a potential market of 131,000 Michiganders (about 1 in every 75 residents) who hold medical marijuana certificates. The company, Prairie Plant Systems (PPS), already has a contract to supply medical marijuana in Canada.

Michigan voters legalized medical marijuana in 2008, but few people think the regulatory system is working. "Chaos" is a word frequently used by editorial writers and other critics.

Officials with PPS and its Michigan subsidiary, SubTerra, which now uses the White Pine Mine for other plant-based pharmaceutical research, granted exclusive access to the mine and the company's plans to a Free Press reporter and photographer. They say their methods would stress security, safety and science, treating pot as a pharmaceutical, rather than a street drug.

"There's a need to bring this under the proper reins of appropriate manufacturing for patient safety and for public safety," said Brent Zettl, president and CEO of PPS, a plant-based biopharmaceutical company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

But Zettl acknowledges he has major state and federal hurdles to clear before he can convert the mine, which closed in 1996.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder would all have to sign off, and in the case of the first two agencies, reverse direction on policy. Federal agencies consider marijuana illegal. DEA agents have not cracked down on small operations to supply licensed patients but almost certainly would view SubTerra as a major bust opportunity.

The FDA supports research to capture marijuana's benefits in tablet form, but opposes "the use of smoked marijuana for medical purposes," spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said.

Growing marijuana hundreds of feet underground -- the same way the company started its Canadian operations in 2001 -- provides security, constant temperature, controlled light and humidity, and protects the plants from bugs and diseases, eliminating the need for harmful pesticides and herbicides, Zettl said. He said any medical marijuana sold in Michigan should be subject to the same regular and rigorous testing as is found in Canada.

To help get around a federal ban on the sale of controlled substances, state law relies on the legal fiction that licensed caregivers provide patients with marijuana for free and get paid for helping patients register.

Canada, with a population of 34 million, has 17,000 patients approved for medical marijuana. Michigan, with less than a third as many people, has nearly eight times more cannabis patients, and a few physicians have been accused of indiscriminately approving patients to use the drug.

An explosion in medical marijuana dispensaries caused control headaches for cities. The shutdown of most dispensaries as a result of a Michigan Court of Appeals ruling in August broke the supply chain.

But Zettl says there is a more fundamental problem in Michigan.

With no testing or standards, nobody knows what Michigan patients are smoking. In Canada, Zettl's cannabis is tested not just for active ingredients such as THC, but for mold, fungus, pathogens -- including bacteria -- and metals, such as lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic.

"We've breached the first cardinal rule of pharmaceutical manufacturing," Zettl said. "It doesn't have any safety bells or whistles."

PPS began in 1988 developing disease-free berry trees and other products aimed at farmers. It later moved into medical cannabis and plant-based pharmaceutical research. The company had to leave the leased facility where it grew its medical cannabis in Manitoba in 2008 because the owner wanted to resume mining. It now grows the plants above ground at a location kept secret at the request of the Canadian government.

Zettl, who has a farming background and a bachelor's degree in agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan, said the company had 2011 sales of $7.6 million, about 75% of which came from medical cannabis contracts with the Canadian government. Its SubTerra subsidiary acquired the White Pine Mine in 2003.

A bill is expected to be introduced in the Legislature before summer to establish testing standards similar to Canada's that would go into effect if and when medical marijuana is approved for sale in Michigan. SubTerra hired former House Speaker Chuck Perricone, a Republican, as its lobbyist.

"Neither the physician nor the patient have a clue what it is that is being ingested," and high mold content and pesticide residue is common, Perricone said. "Michigan needs to protect its citizens. Proper testing will do that."

Tim Beck of Detroit, a leader of the movement to legalize medical marijuana in Michigan, said PPS may offer "the gold standard in an ideal world," but "until federal law changes, it's just not viable."

Also, "to some degree, this testing issue is overblown," Beck said. "There is a free market, and people tend to know who the good" suppliers are.

Even if the bill is approved, SubTerra would be far from the starting gate.

Experts may differ on the therapeutic use of morphine, but they at least agree it's a medicine. Not so with marijuana.

"We don't give people a plant and call it medicine," said Joel Hay, a professor in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Southern California. "You've got a product with thousands and thousands of compounds, some of which are unknown what their effects are," he said.

"It's lunacy to call this medicine. It's like going back 100 years."

But Dr. Lester Grinspoon, associate professor emeritus of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, said in a 2006 article that marijuana "will one day be seen as a wonder drug," as penicillin was in the 1940s. It's "remarkably nontoxic (and) has a wide range of therapeutic applications," he said in a column in the Los Angeles Times.

Before the FDA approves new drugs, it requires clinical trials with blind tests in which some patients receive a placebo. Because it's smoked, finding a marijuana placebo is tougher than using a salt tablet to replace a pill.

Some complain of a Catch-22. The FDA won't approve the drug's use without more research, but researchers face legal obstacles and a lack of support because the drug is banned.

Dr. Mark Ware, associate medical director of the McGill University Health Centre Pain Clinic in Montreal, one of a small number of experts who has published extensive cannabis research, said many doctors don't take medical pot seriously and physicians like him must "deal with the perception that you're really just looking to get people stoned and high."

But "there has to be a mechanism for patients with genuine medical needs to have access to cannabis until such time as something better comes along," Ware said, adding that other treatments should be explored first.

Those include certain marijuana compounds that have been approved in tablet form, but have significantly different properties from smoked cannabis.

The approach used by PPS gives patients comfort because the cannabis has been standardized and "tested and been shown to be free of impurities that may be hazardous to health," whereas Michigan patients have "no way of knowing what they're getting," Ware said.

But cannabis is generally safe. The extra safety standards are positive, but not essential to producing safe cannabis, he said.

PPS is the only authorized mass supplier of medical marijuana in Canada, but serves only about 2,000 of the 17,000 approved patients. Others can grow their own or get their cannabis from small growers.

Particularly in the early years, the company was dogged by complaints from patients who said they didn't like the taste or the quality.

Zettl said a court ruling forced the Canadian government to rush medical cannabis onto the market sooner than it wanted. The company's product had a THC content of about 14%, but the government ordered it to dilute it with leaf material to bring the THC content down to what the Canadian government believed was the norm for street marijuana: 10%.

It was that required blending, which has since been relaxed so that PPS can provide marijuana with 12.5% THC content, combined with the fact that the Canadian government would allow the company to supply only one variety of cannabis, despite a wide range of needs, that led to complaints, Zettl said.

"In 12 years, we've made several evolutionary changes."

Ted Smith, founder of the Cannabis Buyers' Club of Canada in Victoria, British Columbia, said quality concerns persist: "It doesn't smell very good; it doesn't look very good."

But Adrienne Baker-Hicks, 53, of Warkworth, Ontario, said the PPS product has been "wonderful" for her because the company irradiates it to ensure it is germ-free.

"I have autoimmune deficiencies, quite a few," said Baker-Hicks, who uses medical cannabis to help with a spinal condition, a blood disorder and tremors. "If I smoke something that isn't clean, it can make me really sick."

See Article and Video

______________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Four die, five missing in Inner Mongolia coal mine blast

Xinhua

April 23, 2012

At least four people were dead and five others missing after a coal mine blasted in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, local authorities said Monday.

The accident happened at around 3:00 a.m. Monday in a coal mine belonging to Xingya Coal Development Co., Ltd. of Urad Front Banner, Bayannur City, sources with Inner Mongolia's work safety supervision bureau said.

The blast, believed to be triggered by gas leak, occurred at a digging platform in the mine shaft.

Rescuers are racing to locate the missing miners, and an investigation into the blast is under way, said Wang Junyi, the bureau's director.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Brookwood-Sago SEMINAR

Measuring Progress Toward a Safety Culture of Prevention in Mining

Crowne Plaza Hotel Pittsburgh International Airport

Pittsburgh, PA

June 13th, 2012

Please join us for this annual seminar on issues related to enhancing cultures of prevention at our nation’s mines.  The aim of the 2012 seminar is to explore and discuss approaches, tools and practices associated with monitoring and measuring progress toward a safety culture of hazard prevention.  Achieving a safety culture of prevention is seen as a viable and realistic means to improve safety and health.

There is no charge to attend this essential seminar.

For the brochure and to register, please visit: 

www.eme.psu.edu/minerstownhall.html

The Pennsylvania State University

Miner Training Program

www.ems.psu.edu/minertraining

213 Research West Building, University Park, PA  16802

Phone 814-865-7472, Fax 814-863-1621, minertraining@...

John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering

Coal mine accident kills 9 in north China

Xinhua

April 23, 2012

Nine miners were killed and 16 others injured in a coal mine accident in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region as the rescue wrapped up late Monday, officials said.

Rescuers found the bodies of five missing miners at Xingya Coal Mine at Urad front banner, Bayannur city after an eight-hour search, said a spokesman of the local government. Four people were killed on the spot when a blast rocked the mine at about 3:20 am Monday.

The 16 miners, including four severely injured, are being treated at a local hospital, the spokesman said.

The mine, with maximum output of 300,000 tons of coal a year, is licensed. The cause of the accident is being investigated, he added.

China's mining sector saw 185 accidents in the first quarter of the year, that led to the deaths of 289 people, the State Administration of Work Safety said last Friday. Altogether 1,973 miners were killed in colliery accidents last year.

Poor safety regulations and a lack of safety awareness are usually blamed for the frequent occurrence of colliery accidents.

Inner Mongolia holds China's largest coal reserves. It surpassed neighboring Shanxi Province to become the largest coal producing region in 2010. Its coal output reached 908 million tonnes in the first 11 months last year, rising 26.6 percent from a year earlier, according to latest available statistics.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Company aims to strike it rich by mining asteroids

Associated Press

By SETH BORENSTEIN

AP Science Writer

April 24, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) - A group of high-tech tycoons wants to mine nearby asteroids, hoping to turn science fiction into real profits.

The mega-million dollar plan is to use commercially built robotic ships to squeeze rocket fuel and valuable minerals like platinum and gold out of the lifeless rocks that routinely whiz by Earth. One of the company founders predicts they could have their version of a space-based gas station up and running by 2020.

The inaugural step, to be achieved in the next 18 to 24 months, would be launching the first in a series of private telescopes that would search for rich asteroid targets.

Several scientists not involved in the project said they were simultaneously thrilled and skeptical, calling the plan daring, difficult - and highly expensive. They struggle to see how it could be cost-effective, even with platinum and gold worth nearly $1,600 an ounce. An upcoming NASA mission to return just 2 ounces (60 grams) of an asteroid to Earth will cost about $1 billion.

But the entrepreneurs announcing the project Tuesday in Seattle have a track record of making big money off ventures into space. Company founders Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis pioneered the idea of selling rides into space to tourists and, Diamandis' company offers "weightless" airplane flights.

Investors and advisers to the new company, Planetary Resources Inc. of Seattle, include Google CEO Larry Page and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and explorer and filmmaker James Cameron.

The mining, fuel processing and later refueling would all be done without humans, Anderson said.

"It is the stuff of science fiction, but like in so many other areas of science fiction, it's possible to begin the process of making them reality," said former astronaut Thomas Jones, an adviser to the company.

The target-hunting telescopes would be tubes only a couple of feet long, weighing only a few dozen pounds and small enough to be held in your hand. They should cost less than $10 million, company officials said.

The idea that asteroids could be mined for resources has been around for years. Asteroids are the leftovers of a failed attempt to form a planet billions of years ago. Most of the remnants became the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but some pieces were pushed out to roam the solar system.

Asteroids are made mostly of rock and metal and range from a couple of dozen feet wide to nearly 10 miles long. The new venture targets the free-flying asteroids, seeking to extract from them the rare Earth platinum metals that are used in batteries, electronics and medical devices, Diamandis said.

Water can be broken down in space to liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen for rocket fuel. Water is very expensive to get off the ground so the plan is to take it from an asteroid to a spot in space where it can be converted into fuel. From there, it can easily and cheaply be shipped to Earth orbit for refueling commercial satellites or spaceships from NASA and other countries.

In the past couple of years, NASA and other space agencies have shifted their attention from the moon and other planets toward asteroids. Because asteroids don't have any substantial gravity, targeting them costs less fuel and money than going to the moon, Anderson said in a phone interview.

There are probably 1,500 asteroids that pass near Earth that would be good initial targets. They are at least 160 feet (50 meters) wide, and Anderson figures 10 percent of them have water and other valuable minerals.

"A depot within a decade seems incredible. I hope there will be someone to use it," said Andrew Cheng at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab, who was the chief scientist for a NASA mission to an asteroid a decade ago. "And I have high hopes that commercial uses of space will become profitable beyond Earth orbit. Maybe the time has come."

Space experts said such a bold project has huge startup costs. Diamandis and Anderson would not disclose how much the project will cost overall. Diamandis said by building and launching quickly, the company will operate much cheaper than NASA.

But still the costs are just too high, said Purdue University planetary geologist Jay Melosh, who called space exploration "a sport that only wealthy nations, and those wishing to demonstrate their technical prowess, can afford to indulge."

Anderson, who co-founded the space tourism business, said he's used to skeptics.

"Before we started launching people into space as private citizens, people thought that was a pie-in-the-sky idea," Anderson said. "We're in this for decades. But it's not a charity. And we'll make money from the beginning."

Online:

Planetary Resources Inc.: http://www.planetaryresources.com/

NASA's 2016 asteroid sampling mission: http://osiris-rex.lpl.arizona.edu/

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Mine flood kills 9 in C China

Xinhua

April 25, 2012

ZHENGZHOU - Four miners who went missing following a coal mine flood in Central China's Henan province have been confirmed dead, bringing the death toll for the April 14 flood to nine, rescuers said Wednesday.

A total of 53 miners were working in the mine in the city of Pingdingshan when it flooded. Forty-two of them managed to escape on their own, while two others were pulled out after rescuers pumped water out of the mine, according to the local rescue headquarters.

The bodies of five miners were found shortly after the flood, leaving four miners unaccounted for. After finding their bodies on Wednesday, rescuers wrapped up their rescue efforts to make way for a subsequent investigation into the accident.

A preliminary investigation showed that the flooding was caused by seepage from a disused mining pit adjacent to the mine.

The mine is owned by the Yulongyuantong Coal Mining Co., which was taken over by Henan Coalbed Methane Development Co. Ltd., in January this year.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Four Dead in SW China Mine Accident

Xinhua

April 25, 2012

Four people were choked to death underground a coal mine in southwest China's Guizhou province Wednesday, local authorities said.

The accident occurred at about 7:40 a.m. after the four workers at Hongbaidi coal mine in the city of Qingzhen broke down an underground airtight wall that was used to block carbon monoxide, the city government said in a press release.

All the four workers were locals.

The Hongbaidi coal mine is a licensed township mine.

Local work safety authorities are further investigating the exact cause of the accident.

Note:  Above is the actual text released by the Xinhua.  These workers were most likely overcome by blackdamp and not Carbon Monoxide.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com

Man dies in Knott County (KY) mine accident

WKYT

April 25, 2012

A man is dead in Knott County after a belt line fell on him at an inactive mine.

Knott County Coroner Jeff Blair tells us it happened around nine this morning near the Mousie community.

Crews went into the mine to remove the beltline when it fell on the man.

The man's name has not been released at this time, his body has been sent to Frankfort for an autopsy.

_________________________

U. S. Mine Rescue Association

http://www.usmra.com