All the headlines from our Mining Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Feb 14 2008 // The earthen seal at a former underground coal mine in Delbarton, W. Va., sprung a leak, sending thousands of gallons of water through the yards of several homes and onto a state highway, officials said Tuesday.The seal was...
Feb 13 2008 // The first major rewrite of Pennsylvania’s 1961 mine safety law received unanimous approval from the state Senate this week, but the mine workers union wants the House to make additions to it.Under the current draft,...
Jan 31 2008 // Lawmakers want to know why federal mine safety regulators didn’t assess penalties for hundreds of citations issued since 2000, and what is being done to correct the problem.The U.S. Mine Safety and Health...
Jan 28 2008 // Federal researchers have concluded that airtight refuge chambers could save trapped miners and merit installation in the nation’s 731 underground coal mines.National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health...
Jan 25 2008 // Kentucky’s smallest coal companies would get a reprieve from a year-old mine safety law under legislation pending in the General Assembly.The measure would relieve companies that employ fewer than 10 miners from...
Jan 18 2008 // Defying White House veto threats, the Democratic-controlled House this week passed sweeping mine safety legislation aimed at preventing future underground disasters like the one that took nine lives last year at Crandall...
Jan 17 2008 // More than two dozen Appalachian families who have lost loved ones in coal accidents are supporting a federal bill that would mandate more safety measures. Among the supporters are the widows of the 2006 Kentucky Darby...
Jan 17 2008 // A bill that would install a slew of safety measures into Pennsylvania’s long-outdated law protecting coal miners received unanimous approval from a state Senate committee this week.The bill, which is headed for a...
Jan 10 2008 // Kentucky is reporting the nation’s first mine death of 2008.The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration says an eastern Kentucky coal truck driver died Tuesday at Blue Ridge surface mine in Perry County. The mine...
Jan 7 2008 // The country’s top mine-safety regulator will stay on the job despite the expiration of his temporary appointment as assistant labor secretary for mine safety and health.President Bush designated Richard Stickler as...
Jan 3 2008 // Despite a decline in fatal accidents, federal statistics show 2007 was the second deadliest year since 2002 for U.S. coal miners.According to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, 32 miners died on the job last year,...
Dec 28 2007 // With the end of 2007 days away, Virginia is nearing a third consecutive year without a coal mining death.Virginia, ranked No. 10 in the nation in coal production, saw its last coal mining fatality on Oct. 23, 2004. Mike...
Dec 21 2007 // Nearly two years after a conveyor belt fire killed two miners in Logan County, W. Va., a congressionally mandated study recommends that fireproof conveyor belts be standard in the nation’s coal mines.The study says...
Dec 21 2007 // West Virginia’s mine safety chief has delayed deployment of steel-shelled shelters in underground coal mines because they could not meet a state standard for internal temperatures during testing.Ron Wooten, director...
Dec 20 2007 // The mining industry is getting more time to have its say about final federal rules requiring stronger seals for abandoned sections in underground coal mines.The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday it...
Dec 12 2007 // The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has warned 20 companies across the country that they may face sanctions as repeat violators of health and safety rules.The list includes coal operations in West Virginia,...
Dec 11 2007 // The deadly Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia may have been nearly seven times more powerful than previously reported, according to a government report obtained by the Sunday Gazette-Mail.The 138-page Army Corps of...
Dec 3 2007 // Massey Energy Co. is facing another lawsuit over a fatal fire at one of its mines in West Virginia.Wyatt Robinson’s lawsuit claims Richmond, Va.-based Massey and a subsidiary, Aracoma Coal Company Inc., failed to...
Nov 19 2007 // Data mining is a very powerful tool, but actuaries need to exercise caution when building insurance risk models because of the potential limitations of data.“I’ve heard data mining defined as ‘torturing...
Nov 18 2007 // Federal regulators believe they’ve found a quick and safe way for miners to escape fires or explosions in underground mines.A reusable system of 30- or 42-inch-diameter concrete pipes installed in underground mines...