All the headlines from our Mining Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Feb 28 2013 // State inspectors have issued 45 violations at a West Virginia coal mine since two men died there earlier this month, including one for negligently rigging the switch on a hoist with a piece of wood and a rusty bolt,...
Feb 25 2013 // Private and federal mine safety inspectors can be held liable and sued when a negligent inspection results in the wrongful death of a coal miner, the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled in handing a victory to the widows of...
Feb 22 2013 // West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Wednesday asked coal companies to halt production for an hour to review safety procedures following the state’s fourth mining fatality in two weeks and the sixth since...
Feb 8 2013 // West Virginia regulators have revised a proposed rule that would increase fines for mine safety and health violations.The original proposal would have raised the civil penalties across the board. The revised rule filed...
Feb 7 2013 // Private and federal mine safety inspectors can be held liable and sued when a negligent inspection results in the wrongful death of a coal miner, the state Supreme Court ruled in handing a victory to the widows of two men...
Feb 5 2013 // State standards aimed at reducing buildups of explosive coal dust in underground mines but regulators haven’t been enforced in West Virginia.More than a fifth of the more than 5,500 dust samples taken from mines by...
Feb 5 2013 // “Resource nationalism, poor infrastructure that impedes development and supply chain disruptions are some of the biggest risks facing the mining sector in the year ahead,” according to this year’s Mining...
Feb 4 2013 // A rule that could toughen the limits on methane gas levels in West Virginia coal mines remains stalled as state officials debate both definitions and a timetable for implementation.The State Journal said last week’s...
Jan 18 2013 // Labor Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announced a final rule to strengthen safety in the nation’s most dangerous mines.Solis said that the rule, which revises the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s...
Jan 2 2013 // A longtime mine inspector and safety official will now head such efforts in West Virginia, after Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin appointed Eugene White as director for the Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training.White...
Dec 20 2012 // The Office of Mine Safety and Licensing is asking that an eastern Kentucky miner who reported safety violations be put on probation because he worked in unsafe conditions.Mackie Bailey faces a hearing in February with the...
Dec 14 2012 // A former president of Massey Energy’s White Buck Coal Co. will enter a plea on federal conspiracy charges in January as prosecutors continue to investigate the 2010 explosion at another Massey operation that killed...
Dec 10 2012 // Marsh, the insurance broking division of Marsh & McLennan Cos., announced that Douglas Schwab has rejoined the firm as its new East and Central zone mining leader.Douglas SchwabIn this newly-created position, Schwab...
Nov 30 2012 // Federal prosecutors investigating the West Virginia mine explosion that killed 29 men have widened their net, filing criminal charges against a longtime Massey Energy executive who worked closely with former CEO Don...
Nov 19 2012 // Plea agreements say two supervisors at an eastern Kentucky mine where a coal miner was killed last year knowingly violated federal safety laws. Accoording to the documents, Jefferson Davis and Joseph Miniard are planning...
Nov 14 2012 // Geologists say the 4.3 magnitude earthquake that shook eastern Kentucky last weekend was too deep to be induced by the region’s underground mining activity.The epicenter was about 10 miles west of Whitesburg, in the...
Oct 19 2012 // Federal inspectors must share the blame — and therefore face a lawsuit — for a 2006 West Virginia coal mine fire that killed two miners, a lawyer for their widows argued at the state Supreme Court on Wednesday.Lawyer...
Sep 11 2012 // Colorado mining authorities have dug through a mountainside and reopened the dark granite shaft of an abandoned mine that turned deadly, trying to find options for dealing with one of the West’s worst environmental...
Aug 21 2012 // The widows of two West Virginia coal miners killed in a 2006 fire want the state Supreme Court to rule that private and federal mine safety inspectors can be held legally liable when workers die as a result of their...
Aug 6 2012 // The West Virginia Supreme Court has set a Oct. 17 date to consider whether Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors can be held liable for coal miners’ deaths.A federal appeals court in Richmond last month...