Miner dies at ICG mine, bringing deaths to 33 nationwide

Miner dies at ICG mine, bringing deaths to 33 nationwide

Washington (Platts)--26May2006

Another West Virginia miner died Wednesday afternoon, bringing the total
number killed in coal mining accidents in the state this year to 19 and the
national total to 33.

The underground equipment accident occurred shortly after 2 pm at the Sycamore
No. 2 mine near Jarvisville in Harrison County, West Virginia, Mine Safety and
Health Administration spokesman Dirk Fillpot told Platts Thursday. The mine is
owned by International Coal Group's Wolf Run Mining, which also owns the Sago
mine where 12 miners died following an explosion in January.

Todd Upton, 34, an underground scoop operator, was working in an outby area of
the mine. He apparently was struck in the head by a wooden board and was
pronounced dead at the mine portal area, said ICG Vice President Charles
Snavely in a statement. Upton had worked at Wolf Run since October. Additional
details of the accident and the victim's age and hometown weren't immediately
known.

Emergency services received the call about 2:26 pm, "within the 15-minute
period required by West Virginia," Carolyn Gresham, a spokeswoman for West
Virginia's Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training, told Platts
Thursday.

State and federal inspectors were in the mine Thursday morning and were
interviewing witnesses in the afternoon, Gresham said.

The accident comes after last Saturday's explosion that killed five miners at
Kentucky Darby's Mine No. 1 in Holmes Mill, Harlan County, Kentucky, and an
accident Tuesday at Miller Brothers' Risner Branch No. 1 mine in Breathitt
County, Kentucky, in which a man died after he lost control of the water truck
he was driving and drove it over an embankment.

According to MSHA records, Sycamore produced 68,758 short tons of coal in 2005
and 81,577 st so far this year. The mine was citied 25 times in 2005 and fined
$1,640. This year, the mine has been cited 49 times for alleged violations
ranging from not having the proper guards on machinery to not controlling coal
dust and fined $2,854. Eighteen of the citations in 2006 have been for serious
violations, most recently on May 3 for having unsafe equipment.

ICG took over operation of the mine in September 2004 and acquired it through
the purchase of Anker Coal Group in November that same year.

Darby investigator thinks methane was cause

In the Darby investigation, Tracy Stumbo, chief investigator at the Kentucky
Office of Mine Safety and Licensing, was "pretty satisfied it was a methane
explosion," said Chuck Wolfe, Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet
spokesman, during a press conference Wednesday. "Our chief investigator said
he had no reason to think coal dust was a factor."

Previously, mine safety experts said the extent of the explosion suggested
coal dust might have played a role.

MSHA has placed a temporary moratorium on the use of a type of seal that
blocks off unused and potentially dangerous areas of mines from those places
where coal is produced. MSHA also ordered that the structural integrity of
existing seals be reassessed, and that the potentially explosive atmosphere
behind the seals be tested.

Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher and state mining officials said the state
also will give more scrutiny to alternative seals such as Omega Blocks.

"I think we have a preliminary cause right now, and that's an explosion that
occurred from a contained area that apparently was leaking," Fletcher said.
"That's why we went about setting a new protocol to check all of the
nonconventional containment procedures. So we're fairly confident that is
where the explosion began."

-- Mark E. Heckathorn, mark_heckathorn@platts.com

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