Washington (Platts)--3Jun2008

The fatal Crandall Canyon mine collapse in Utah in August 2007 "was due
to the collapse of the mine and not a naturally occurring earthquake,"
according to Walter Arabasz, a seismologist who co-authored a report on the
event released Tuesday.

"By showing the recalculated epicenter was within the mine boundary and
near active mining, the new study adds strong evidence that the quake was the
collapse itself," said a statement accompanying the report.

Six miners died in the collapse, but the seismic event that registered as
a magnitude-3.9 earthquake probably lasted only seconds, alleviating the
worries of the miners' families that the men suffered.

Three mine rescue workers were killed and six were injured in another
event a few days after the initial shock. Rescue work ended at that time.

The mine is owned by UtahAmerican Energy, a subsidiary of Murray Energy,
which is owned by veteran coal miner Robert Murray, and Intermountain Power
Agency. Murray said at the time that the collapse was caused by an earthquake.

The collapse reverberated and produced several aftershocks, causing the
misconception that the events lasted for a longer time, said the seismologists
from the University of Utah.

The recalculated epicenter was "very close to where the miners were
working," said Jim Pechmann, the study's lead author, in a statement
accompanying the 53-page report's release. The collapse also covered a larger
area that originally estimated--about 50 acres--and produced 37 aftershocks.

University of California at Berkeley seismologists and those at the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said their analyses shortly after the
August 6, 2007 collapse "revealed implosive, downward movement--like a mine
collapse and not like [a] shearing motion along a fault."

--Charlotte Wright, charlotte_wright@platts.com

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