TREMOR AT DRIEFONTEIN

TREMOR AT DRIEFONTEIN
Gold Fields worker missing, shaft operations halted

A miner is missing 3,000m below surface in Gold Fields’ Driefontein mine after a tremor measuring 1.5 on the Richter scale hit the No.5 shaft.

Posted: Monday , 03 Sep 2007
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -

One miner was missing and operations were suspended at a shaft of the biggest mine of South Africa's Gold Fields Ltd after an earth tremor, the firm said on Monday.
Gold Fields, the world's fourth biggest gold producer, said the missing miner was working 3,000 metres below the surface when a tremor measuring 1.5 on the Richter scale occured on Saturday at the No. 5 shaft of the Driefontein mine.

NO.5 SHAFT SHUT
Tremor at Gold Fields' Driefontein mine leaves miner deadA tremor at Gold Fields’ Driefontein mine in South Africa has left one miner dead and two injured. Operations have been suspended at the No.5 shaft.

Posted: Monday , 03 Sep 2007
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -
One miner was found dead and operations were suspended at a shaft of Gold Fields' biggest mine after an earth tremor, the South African firm said on Monday.
Gold Fields Ltd, the world's fourth biggest gold producer, said the miner had been working 3,000 metres below the surface when a tremor measuring 1.5 on the Richter scale occured on Saturday at the No. 5 shaft of the Driefontein mine.
The shaft would remain shut pending an investigation into the accident by department of minerals officials, spokesman Andrew Davidson said.
Three other miners were working in the same area when the tremor occurred, two of whom were injured.
The Driefontein mine produced 1.2 million ounces of gold in the financial year to end-June, over a quarter of Gold Fields' attributable output of 4.02 million ounces. No production figures were immediately available for the No. 5 mine shaft.
So far five miners have been killed at Gold Field mines since July, while 29 died in accidents in the financial year to end-June, Davidson said.
Gold Fields shares rose 2.05 percent to 111.75 rand by 1250 GMT, largely in line with the gold mining index

Death’s presence a constant in mining towns

Death’s presence a constant in mining towns

The Chicago Tribune September 2, 2007

WELCH, W.Va. – Jim Sanson, a coal miner whose other calling in life might have been as an evangelical preacher, led his colleagues in somber prayer before they descended hundreds of feet into the earth. “Lord, we pray this day that no one would be lost,” Sanson intoned one recent morning, as the miners around him bowed their heads outside the Pinnacle Mine near Welch, W.Va.

The men prayed there would be no injuries. They prayed safety would be at the front of everyone’s minds for the coming eight-hour shift. And they prayed, as they had for two weeks straight, for six miners lost in Utah and their increasingly grief-stricken families.

Since Aug. 6, the day a mine collapse swallowed a group of miners in Huntington, Utah, the nation has watched, hoping a miracle might happen and the men could be pulled alive from the Crandall Canyon mine. The tragedy has sparked a national dialogue about one of the most dangerous professions in America, about laws that could make mining safer, about whether a rescue attempt that cost three men their lives should have been undertaken in that unstable Utah mine.

WORKERS SOLDIER ON
But unnoticed, all across America, in the hollows of West Virginia and the mountains of Kentucky, in the hills of southern Illinois and the gorges of Montana, the tens of thousands of coal miners in this county have quietly continued to do what they do 365 days a year: quarry the depths of the earth for the billions of tons of coal that create more than half of the nation’s electricity.
These miners work their shifts and return home to communities much like Huntington, quiet places where parents, spouses and children have for generations lived with the unsettling knowledge that their family’s livelihood is fraught with peril, sometimes death.

They take deep pride in their occupation, putting bumper stickers with sayings such as “Miners go deeper” on their pickup trucks and reminding outsiders that increased attention on safety has actually made disasters like what occurred in Utah rare. They pray.

“Coal miners always pray for other coal miners,” said a Tom Morsi, a 30-year veteran of the mines, mentioning the Utah collapse as well as an accident in China, where 181 miners were trapped and likely killed last month.
Martha Moore, the mayor of Welch, a town of 2,800 people just a few miles from the Pinnacle Mine, put it like this: “I think there’s a spot in our hearts for anything that happens in a coal mining town.”

Indeed, at Pinnacle – an otherworldly maze of underground tunnels almost the size of Washington, D.C., where workers do deep, pillar-supported mining similar to the mining at Crandall Canyon – miners have been watching the events in Utah between shifts with well-trained eyes. Considered to have the top mine rescue team in the nation, the miners suspect the six didn’t survive the initial collapse, but they feel grave offense at the suggestion that the bodies of the men might never be recovered. Indeed, last week the mine’s chief promised to keep searching for the missing men.


VETERANS RETIRING
And these miners mourn the potential loss of experienced miners and worry that the industry will suffer yet more accidents in coming years as veterans retire and leave the mines to a new crop of inexperienced “red caps,” the moniker given to new miners because of the distinctive color of their hard hats.
But mostly they talk about the sorrow they know has settled over the community of Huntington, an anguish they understand only too well from accidents in their own state – like the haunting one last year when their rescue team tried but couldn’t save two men trapped in a massive underground coal fire in a nearby mine. Some men of Pinnacle still weep when they talk about that accident, tears trailing through the black coal dust coating their faces.

“It tears you up because you think about accidents every day you leave your home in the morning. There’s never a guarantee that it won’t be the last time,” Morsi said.
Spouses of miners live with that every day, but many, like Susan Plumley, wife of a veteran miner on Pinnacle’s rescue team, understand the value of the work. Plumley says, “I always will support him being part of the mining community because I think he is such a positive influence on it.”
To be sure, death is a constant presence in places like McDowell County, where many Pinnacle miners live. The county’s own Web site does not sugar-coat the profession: “Since the first coal mining in the 1800s, McDowell County … has suffered more mine disasters than any county in the state,” the site reads. “These disasters, mostly mine explosions, accounted for over 500 fatalities from 1902 to 1964.”

A sign in front of an area church is even more pointed: “Are you ready to die?” it asks people in cars passing by, many of them miners on their way to work.

Wyoming and McDowell counties, which ring the Pinnacle Mine, are filled with little towns that were once coal mining camps. All the houses look the same because they originally were built by coal companies and later sold to their occupants.

Coal miners die on the job every year, but few of these accidents garner as much attention as the one in Utah. By and large, miners die one or two at a time, in fires, in falls, on the losing end of the unforgiving equipment they use.

“In these cases – and they are the majority – condolences don’t pour in from around the country, strangers don’t set up college scholarship funds for the lost miners’ children,” said Tony Oppegard, a lawyer who represents several families involved in the 2006 Darby mine accident in Kentucky, in which five men were killed in an underground explosion. That incident and the highly publicized accident in Sago, W.Va., that killed 12 raised the total for 2006 to 47.

Pinnacle itself has lost four workers since the mine opened in 1969.
“One loss is too many,” said Mike Plumley, a miner for nearly 30 years and husband of Susan Plumley.
A union coal miner and college professor working on his second master’s degree, Mike Plumley has made it his mission to make the profession safer.

Although many Pinnacle miners have worked there for decades, they are mandated to attend a safety briefing before every shift; they are lectured on the physical signs of oxygen deprivation and the signs of shock from injury.
Haunted as a rescuer by the miners he has seen die, Plumley tries to make training fun. He once suggested that hundreds of miners each put $5 into a hat and whoever became fastest at donning an emergency air respirator mask would take the windfall.

“If there can be any good that comes from tragedies like Utah, it’s that it reminds us not to get complacent,” said Darren Blankenship, a safety supervisor at the Pinnacle Mine.
“I guess it’s kind of like how after you’ve seen or been in a really bad car accident, for a while you drive more carefully.”

Yet the danger of sending men to work thousands of feet into the earth can never be eliminated. Miners’ families know that, and find themselves sympathizing probably more than anyone with the heartbreaking scenes out of Utah.

Susan Plumley has stayed home many times when her husband’s mine rescue team was sent into harm’s way.
She prays for his safety, but adamantly believes her husband is often a trapped miner’s best chance of making it home.

“I’m so proud of what he does,” she said. “He has such a passion for miners, such a passion for their safety.”
The heartbreak of what miners face during accidents is something only other miners – and their spouses – can fully understand, Susan Plumley believes.

When her husband crawled into bed once after a rescue attempt in which two men died in a blaze, she could still smell the burnt coal on his neck, could see the blisters on his ears from the heat he had endured.
And she could sense his heartache.

But Mike Plumley got up and returned to work the next day.

Rescuers scrambling to reach 181 trapped miners

Rescuers scrambling to reach 181 trapped miners
China Daily - ChinaSeptember 3, 2007

Rescuers have been digging an extra 385-meter-deep hole with the hope of reaching a working platform where most of 172 miners from one of the two flooded mines were believed to have been trapped in Xintai, Shandong Province on East China's seaboard.

Up to now, the rescuers have dug 340 meters beneath the ground with a drill specially mobilized from Shengli Oilfield and will have to break through another 45 meters deep of soil before they could come to the working passage where most of Huayuan Coal Mine's 172 trapped miners were working, said sources from the headquarters for on-the-scene rescue operation.
"More water pumping tools will be added from this hole," said an official in charge of the rescue operation.
Flood water swept through a 65-meter wide breach in the Wenhe River levee on August 17, inundating the Huayuan and Minggong mines, leaving 181 people trapped underground, including 172 miners from Huayuan Coal Mine.
Twelve water pumps have been put to service at the two flooded coalmines, of which, nine are operating near Huayuan Coal Mine.
By 6 pm on Sunday, water level of Huyuan coal mine fell to 37.96 meters, 54.64 meters down from the highest level, but rescuers have to reduce the water level by 67.96 meters in to reach the nearest location where some of the 172 miners might be trapped, said sources from rescue headquarters.
In the nearby Minggong mine, where 9 nine miners have been trapped beneath the shaft, water level dropped to 38.15 meters.

Coal town struggles to move on a year after Sago Mine disaster

Coal town struggles to move on a year after Sago Mine disaster
Sunday, December 24, 2006
By Dan Majors, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. -- Townspeople crowded around the Upshur County Courthouse early Wednesday evening, singing Christmas carols and raising their voices in joyful praise. A group of youngsters, wearing robes and carrying props, jogged across the small lawn to take their places in a live Nativity scene.
It's the same patch of grass where 12 white crosses, each bearing the name of a man who died in the Sago Mine disaster, were erected back in January.

But the crosses are long gone.
It's Christmastime in Buckhannon, and most of the people in this tiny coal-mining town have been busy with their traditional holiday routines -- shopping, wrapping and cooking. The homes are decorated as they always are at this time of year.
"People are in the stores everywhere," said 1st Sgt. Rick Holley, a district commander with the West Virginia State Troopers. "It's a pretty good Christmas."
The wreaths that are displayed around the town are cheery circles of evergreen tied with bright red bows. The signs along the roadsides offer holiday wishes -- or holiday bargains -- and the times of the children's Christmas pageant.
There was a time, however, just about a year ago, when the scene was very different. The wreaths were made of black ribbons, and the signs all carried the same sad message: "Pray for our miners."

That was during the first week of the year, in the hours after the Jan. 2 explosion that trapped 13 coal miners deep underground and brought the spotlight of the nation burning onto Buckhannon.

'It was a bad scene'The Rev. Ed McDaniels, pastor of the Christian Fellowship Church located between Buckhannon and nearby Sago and the man who organizes the annual live Nativity scene, was one of the local leaders who responded to the tragedy.
He comforted the miners' relatives as they waited for news of their loved ones inside the Sago Baptist Church and made sure that each family was assigned a local pastor "to shepherd them as best they could" through the ordeal.
He was there when word came that searchers had found one of the miners dead. He was there a few hours later when the church bells started ringing and people praised God because someone said the other 12 missing miners had been found alive.

And he was there nearly three hours after that, when the families learned that the initial reports had been wrong and that only one miner had survived and the songs of joy had turned to mournful wails and agonized curses.

"When [mine officials] found out that all of them were dead except one, they thought a plan would be that they would tell it to the ministers and the ministers then would tell it to the families," Mr. McDaniels said. "But that never materialized, which I'm certainly glad that it didn't. I'd have probably said 'I'm not telling them. In fact, I'm going over the hill.' "
Mr. McDaniels said he and the other ministers, including the Rev. Wease Day, pastor of the Sago Baptist Church, did what they could to comfort the families.
Then, when he learned that the bodies of the dead miners were to be transported to a makeshift morgue on the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, he headed over there. He walked into the campus chapel and asked a group of police officers how they planned to deal with the families.

"The response was 'We don't know,' " he said. "There was no organization. They didn't even have the names of the miners. It turned out, the only person who had a list of the people underground was me."
It was a hand-scrawled list of 13 names he had made back at the Sago Baptist Church as he went from one distressed relative to another during the early hours of the disaster.
At the morgue, it was used as a checklist.
"It was so disarrayed, some relatives didn't even know if they could come identify the bodies," Mr. McDaniels said. "The families all arrived at different times. And the bodies came in at different times; they didn't all come, 12 at a time."

As the family members arrived at the chapel, Mr. McDaniels welcomed them and prayed with them. He also asked if they would like him to organize a memorial service for all 12 miners. With their unanimous consent, he did so, a Jan. 15 service in the college chapel that was attended by 1,400 people, including West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin.

The gathering was called

"A Service for Honor, Hope and Healing."

'A very trying time'Since then, Mr. McDaniels has done his best to give solace to the families. He was a leader in the effort to erect a memorial of dark stone tablets near the Sago Baptist Church. He continued to call and visit them.
Over the course of the year, however, while the Buckhannon community recovered from the tragedy, the families struggled, not only with the loss of their loved ones but with what many of them call "a lack of closure." Every couple of weeks, it seemed, the mine tragedy was back in the headlines and reporters were calling on the telephone asking for their reactions to the latest news.

"They haven't been able to go back to their lives," Mr. McDaniels said of the families. "They're still in the news; they're still having difficulties."
The news media documented the slow recovery of Sago survivor Randal McCloy Jr. as well as the months of investigation into what caused the explosion. International Coal Group, the company that owns Sago Mine, released its "initial findings" in March and then reopened the mine.

West Virginia officials conducted public hearings on the tragedy in May. Two men who worked at Sago committed suicide, one in August and one in September. And the entire year has been scarred with coal mine fatalities, making it one of the most deadly years in recent memory.
This month, West Virginia officials released a "final" report on the cause of the explosion -- twice. And both times, family members angrily expressed their frustration at its conclusion: Lightning caused the methane gas explosion, but officials can't explain how the lightning traveled more than two miles from where it struck ground to where the explosion started.

"We go on every day with our life the way we have for the past year," said Pam Campbell, sister-in-law of Marty Bennett, one of the miners who died. "You know, we're facing our first Christmas without our loved ones. We're facing the new year, we're facing the anniversary of the explosion.
"We basically continue to fight for what we feel needs to be done for the rest of these coal miners in our area. Because, as you know, coal mining is a very, very big part of this town. We need coal mining, but we need safe coal mines."

John Groves said Christmas was a time for him and his brother, Jerry, who died in the mine, to join their seven brothers and sisters for Christmas at their mother's home in Cleveland, W.Va., about 25 miles from Buckhannon. For his family, he said, everything's changed.
He has sent his mother to Florida with relatives "to be away from the anniversary, keep her away from the televisions and the newspapers. This has been a very trying time."

Most calls to the miners' families go unanswered. One man, the son of one of the dead miners, emerged from last week's meeting with West Virginia mining officials and angrily confronted reporters gathered outside, demanding that they "stop pressuring these people" and physically threatening a photographer.

"The problem is these folks are pretty much all talked out," said attorney Paul Cranston, who represents three of the families. "I think the emotions are running pretty high, this time of year in particular, and it's probably not a real good time to talk to them. [It's] the first Christmas without their fathers, their husbands ... and some of the people ... they kind of just want to be with their family. What's left of them."

Even Mr. McDaniels said he has seen less of the families lately.
"I've kind of backed off of all this stuff with the mines and the suing and the reports. I don't have time for that. It's out of my league," he said. "To comfort and console and to help, that was something that I wanted to do.
"There for a while, for the first two weeks of January, the world stood still for us, to mourn with, to hurt with, to cry with these Sago miners [and their families]. But I had to go back to teaching school, I had to go back to ministering to my church."

Upshur County Sheriff Virgil D. Miller said this Christmas seems to be more somber than past ones. "It's kind of a down year," he said.
"Maybe it's just me, but you kind of get the feeling that people want to move on. But it's still with us. Seventy-five, 80 percent of the people in this community knew someone who was in that mine."

He noted that even amid the holiday decorations, you can still see all sorts of signs of tribute to the community's lost miners -- if you look for them. Bumper stickers, T-shirts, signs in store windows. They're there.
"We still have decals on our cruisers," he said. "And I've even thought, you know, 'Well, when would be a good time to take those off the cars?' Probably after the anniversary. We'll move on.
"But we'll still remember."

First published at PG NOW on December 24, 2006 at 12:00 am

Historical Data on Mine Disasters in the United States

Historical Data on Mine Disasters in the United States


The term "mine disaster" historically has been applied to mine accidents claiming five or more lives.
Mine disasters, in this sense, once were appallingly common. For instance, the single year of 1907 saw 18 coal mine disasters, plus two more disasters in the metal and nonmetal mining industry. Among the disasters in 1907 was history's worst--the Monongah coal mine explosion, which claimed 362 lives and impelled Congress to created the Bureau of Mines.

Mine accidents have declined dramatically in number and severity through decades of research, technology, and preventive programs. Today, mine accidents resulting in five or more deaths are no longer common. However, preventing recurrence of disasters like those of the past remains a top priority requiring constant vigilance by management, labor, and government.


Statistical Summary

Number of Documented Mine Disasters (5 or more deaths): Historic Period Coal Mines Metal and Nonmetal Mines Total Through
1875 19 4 23
1876-1900 101 17 118
1901-1925 305 51 356
1926-1950 147 23 170
1951-1975 35 9 44
1976-present 16 1 17

Year with largest number of coal mine disasters: 1909 (20 coal mine disasters)

Year with largest number of metal/nonmetal mine disasters: 1911 (8 metal/nonmetal mine disasters)

Year with largest number of mine disasters overall: 1910 (25 mine disasters-19 coal, 6 metal/nonmetal)

LISTING OF SELECTED HISTORIC MINE DISASTERS
COAL MINES

All accidents with five or more fatalities, since 1970

YEAR DAY MINE LOCATION TYPE DEATHS

2006 05/20
Darby Mine No. 1, Kentucky Darby LLC
Harlan County, Middlesboro, Kentucky
Explosion 5

2006 01/02
Sago Mine, Anker West Virginia Mining Company Inc.
Upshur County, Buckhannon, West Virginia
Explosion 12

2001 09/23
No. 5 Mine, Jim Walter Resources, Inc. Tuscaloosa County, Brookwood, Alabama
Explosion 13

1992 12/07
No. 3 Mine, Southmoutain Coal Co. Wise Co., Norton, Virginia
Explosion 8

1989 09/13
William Station No. 9 Mine, Pyro Mining Co. Union Co., Wheatcroft, Kentucky
Explosion 10

1986 02/06
Loveridge No. 22, Consolidation Coal Co. Marion Co., Fairview, West Virginia
Suffocation (surface stockpile) 5

1984 12/19
Wilberg Mine, Emery Mining Corp. Emery Co., Orangeville, Utah
Fire 27

1983 06/21
McClure No. 1 Mine, Clinchfield Coal Co. Dickinson Co., McClure, Virginia
Explosion 7

1982 01/20
No. 1 Mine, RFH Coal Co. Floyd Co., Craynor, Kentucky
Explosion 7

1981 12/08
No. 21 Mine, Grundy Mining Co. Marion Co., Whitwell, Tennessee
Explosion 13

1981 12/07
No. 11 Mine, Adkins Coal Co. Knott Co., Kite, Kentucky
Explosion 8

1981 03/15
Dutch Creek No. 1, Mid-Continent Resources, Inc. Pitkin Co., Redstone, Colorado
Explosion 15

1980 11/07
Ferrell No. 17, Westmorland Coal Co. Boone Co., Uneeda, West Virginia Explosion 5

1978 04/04
Moss No.3 Portal A, Clinchfield Coal Co. Dickinson Co., Duty, Virginia Suffocation (oxygen deficient air) 5


1977 03/01
Porter Tunnel, Kocher Coal Co. Schuykill Co., Tower City, Pennsylvania Flood 9

1976 03/9-11
Scotia Mine, Blue Diamond Coal Co. Letcher Co., Oven Fork, Kentucky Explosion 26

1972 12/16
Itmann No. 3 Mine, Itmann Coal Co. Wyoming Co., Itmann, West Virginia
Explosion 5

1972 07/22
Blacksville No. 1, Consolidation Coal Co. Monongalia Co., Blacksville, West Virginia
Fire 9

1970 12/30
Nos. 15 and 16 Mines, Finley Coal Co. Leslie Co., Hyden, Kentucky Explosion 38


The five worst coal mine disasters, since 1940:
YEAR DAY MINE LOCATION TYPE DEATHS

1968 11/20
Consol No. 9 Farmington, West Virginia
Explosion 78

1951 12/21
Orient No. 2 West Frankfort, Illinois
Explosion 119

1947 03/25
Centralia No. 5 Centralia, Illinois
Explosion 111

1940 03/16
Willow Grove No. 10 St. Clairsville, Ohio
Explosion 72

1940 01/10
Pond Creek No. 1 Bartley, West Virginia
Explosion 91


The three worst coal mine disasters in U.S. history:
YEAR DAY MINE LOCATION TYPE DEATHS

1913 10/22
Stag Canon No. 2 Dawson, New Mexico
Explosion 263

1909 11/13
Cherry Mine Cherry, Illinois
Fire 259

1907 12/06
Monongah Nos. 6 and 8 Monongah, West Virginia
Explosion 362


METAL AND NONMETAL (NON-COAL) MINES

All accidents with five or more fatalities, since 1970:
YEAR DAY MINE LOCATION TYPE DEATHS

1979 06/08
Belle Isle Mine, Cargill, Inc. (salt) St. Mary Parish, Franklin, Louisiana Explosion 5

1972 05/02
Sunshine Mine, Sushine Mining Co. (silver) Shoshone Co., Kellogg, Idaho
Fire 91

1971 04/12
Barnett Complex, Ozark-Mahoning Co. (fluorspar) Pope Co., Rosiclair, Illinois
Hydrogen sulfide gas 7


The five worst metal and nonmetal mine disasters, since 1940:
YEAR DAY MINE LOCATION TYPE DEATHS

1972 05/02
Sunshine Mine (silver) Kellogg, Idaho
Fire 91

1968 03/06
Belle Isle Mine (salt) Franklin, Louisiana
Fire 21

1963 08/28
Cane Creek Mine (potash) Moab, Utah
Explosion 18

1943 01/05
Boyd Mine (copper) Ducktown, Tennessee
Explosion 9

1942 03/26
Sandts Eddy Quarry (limestone) Allentown, Pennsylvania
Explosion (surface) 31


The three worst metal and nonmetal mine disasters in U.S. history:
YEAR DAY MINE LOCATION TYPE DEATHS

1972 05/02
Sunshine Mine (silver) Kellogg, Idaho
Fire 91

1926 11/03
Barnes Hecker Mine (iron) Ishpeming, Michigan
Flood 51

1917 06/08
Granite Mountain Shaft (copper) Butte, Montana
Fire 163

REFERENCES
1969-1990 Individual Bureau of Mines, MESA, and MSHA accident investigation reports.

Historic AccidentsCoal Mines: Bureau of Mines Bulletin 586, "Historical Summary of Coal-Mine Explosions in the United States, 1810-1958" (1960). Bureau
of Mines Bulletin 616, "Historical Documentation of Major Coal-Mine Disasters in the United States Not Classified As Explosions of Gas or Dust: 1846-1962" (1963).
Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8909, "Historical Summary of Coal Mine Explosions in the United States, 1959-81" (1983).
"Coal Accidents That Resulted in 5 or More Fatalities Mine From 1957 Through January 1982," listing informally maintained by staff, Office of Information and Public Affairs.

Metal/Nonmetal Mines: Bureau of Mines IC 7493, "Major Disasters at Metal and Nonmetal Mines and Quarries in the United States (Excluding Coal Mines)" (1949).
"List of accidents at metal and nonmetal mines and quarries (except coal mines) in the United States in which five or more lives were lost," update of Table 1 from the preceding publication, informally maintained by staff, Program Education and Outreach Services.

International Coal Group Inc ICO

International Coal Group Inc ICO

International Coal Group, Inc. (ICG), incorporated in March 2005, produces coal in Northern and Central Appalachia with a range of mid to high British thermal unit (Btu), low to medium sulfur steam and metallurgical coal.
The Company's Appalachian mining complexes, which include 10 of its mining complexes, are located in West Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland. The Company also has a complementary mining complex of mid to high sulfur steam coal located in the Illinois Basin. The Company markets its coal to a diverse customer base of investment grade electric utilities, as well as domestic and international industrial customers. As of December 31, 2006, ICG owned or controlled approximately 317 million tons of metallurgical quality coal reserves and approximately 746 million tons of steam coal reserves.
Further, the Company owns or controls approximately 566 million tons of non-reserve coal deposits. The Company operates through three segments: Central Appalachian, comprised of both surface and underground mines, Northern Appalachian, comprised of both surface and underground mines, and Illinois Basin, representing one underground mine.

As of December 31, 2006, ICG operated a total of 13 surface and 12 underground coal mines located in Kentucky, Maryland, West Virginia and Illinois. Approximately 66% of the Company's production has come from surface mines, and the remaining production has come from its underground mines. These mining facilities include eight preparation plants, each of which receive, blend, process and ship coal that is produced from one or more of its 25 active mines.


Northern and Central Appalachian Operations

The mines in Central Appalachia produced 11.2 million tons of coal, during the year ended December 31, 2006, and the mines in Northern Appalachia produced 3.2 million tons of coal, in 2006. Shipments to electric utilities, accounted for approximately 95% of the coal shipped, in 2006.

ICG Eastern, LLC operates the Birch River surface mine in Webster County, West Virginia. Birch River is extracting coal from five distinct coalbeds: Freeport; Upper Kittanning; Middle Kittanning; Upper Clarion, and Lower Clarion. Approximately 81% of the coal reserves are leased, while approximately 19% are owned in fee.

ICG Hazard, LLC comprises two mining complexes: ICG Hazard and Flint Ridge, which together operate six surface mines, two underground mines, a unit train loadout (Kentucky River Loading), a preparation plant (Flint Ridge Plant) and other support facilities in eastern Kentucky, near Hazard.

ICG Hazard's five surface mines include East Mac & Nellie, Vicco, Rowdy Gap, Tip Top and Thunder Ridge. The coal from these mines is being extracted from the Hazard 11, Hazard 10, Hazard 9, Hazard 8, Hazard 7 and Hazard 5A seams. Nearly all of the coal is marketed run-of-mine. Approximately 99.2% of Flint Ridge's reserves are leased, while 0.8% are owned in fee.

ICG Knott County, LLC operates five underground mines, the Supreme Energy and Raven preparation plants and rail loadouts and other facilities necessary to support the mining operations in eastern Kentucky, near Kite. ICG Knott County is producing coal from the Hazard 4, Elkhorn 2 and Elkhorn 3 coalbeds.
Three mines are operating in the Hazard 4 coalbed: Calvary, Clean Energy and Elk Hollow. The Raven and Classic mines are operating in the Elkhorn 2 and Elkhorn 3 coalbeds, respectively. Approximately 26% of ICG Knott County's reserves are owned in fee, while approximately 74% are leased.

ICG East Kentucky, LLC is a surface mining operation located in Pike County, Kentucky, near Phelps. ICG East Kentucky operates the Blackberry surface mine and the Phelps Loadout.
Blackberry is an area surface mine that produces coal from four separate coalbeds: Taylor; Fireclay, Lower Fireclay and Hamlin
Vindex Energy Corporation operates three surface mines, the Carlos mine, the Douglas mine and the Jackson Mountain mine, all located in the Potomac Basin in Garrett County, Maryland.

In 2006, the Company commenced operations at the Carlos mine and idled the Island mine in 2006. Vindex Energy Corporation is a cross-ridge mining operation extracting coal from the Upper Freeport, Bakerstown, Middle Kittanning, Upper Kittanning, Pittsburgh and Redstone seams.

Patriot Mining Company consists of two active surface mines: Crown No. 4 and New Hill East both located near Morgantown in Monongalia County, West Virginia.

Wolf Run Mining Company's Buckhannon Division consists of two active underground mines: the Sago mine and the Imperial mine, both located in Upshur County, West Virginia, near the town of Buckhannon.
Both mines extract coal from the Middle Kittanning seam. Wolf Run Mining Company's Philippi Development Division operates the Sentinel mine in Barbour County, West Virginia near the town of Philippi.
Sycamore Group consists of The Sycamore Group LLC and the Harrison Division. The Sycamore Group LLC is a joint venture between ICG and Emily Gibson Coal Company.

The joint venture, through an independent contract miner, operates one underground mine, the Sycamore No. 1 Mine, in Harrison County, West Virginia.
The Hillman property, located in Northern Appalachia, includes approximately 186 million tons of deep coal reserves in the Lower Kittanning seam located predominantly in Taylor County, West Virginia, near Grafton. ICG owns the Hillman coal reserve and the non-reserve coal deposits in the Kittanning, Freeport, Clarion and Mercer seams on the Hillman property.

The Upshur Property, located in Northern Appalachia, contains approximately 93 million tons of non-reserve coal deposits owned or controlled by ICG in the middle and lower Kittanning seams. The Company's Big Creek reserve, located in Central Appalachia, covers 10,000 acres of leased coal lands located north of the town of Richlands in Tazewell County, Virginia.
Total recoverable reserves are 27.5 million tons in the Jawbone, Greasy Creek and War Creek seams. The Big Creek reserve is all leased from Southern Regional Industrial Realty.
The Beckley Pocahontas mine located in Central Appalachia, is a 29 million-ton deep reserve of metallurgical coal in the Pocahontas No. 3 seam in Raleigh County west of Beckley, West Virginia. The southwest portion of the reserve underlies part of the closed BayBeck Mine in the Beckley seam.
Most of the 16,800 acre Beckley reserve is leased from three land companies: Western Pocahontas Properties, Crab Orchard Coal Company and Beaver Coal Company. The Jennie Creek reserve, located in Mingo County, West Virginia, is a 44.9 million ton reserve of surface and deep mineable steam coal

.
Illinois Basin Mining Operations

ICG Illinois, LLC operates one underground coal mine, the Viper mine, in central Illinois. The Viper Mine mines the Illinois No. 5 Seam, also referred to as the Springfield Seam. Approximately 61% of the coal reserves are leased, while 39% is owned in fee. Shipments to electric utilities account for approximately 58% of coal sales.
Other Operations

ADDCAR is the registered trademark of ICG, Inc. In ADDCAR highwall mining system, there is a launch vehicle, continuous miner, conveyor cars, a stacker conveyor, electric generator, water tanker for cooling and dust suppression and a wheel loader with forklift attachment. CoalQuest has entered into a joint operating agreement pursuant to which it will seek to produce coalbed methane, which is pipeline quality gas that resides in coal seams, from its properties in Barbour, Harrison and Taylor counties in West Virginia.

The Company competes with Massey Energy Company, Arch Coal, Consol Energy, Alpha Natural Resources and Foundation Coal Holdings.

Mine Rescue Attempt Ends With Tragedy

Mine Rescue Attempt Ends With Tragedy

September 2nd, 2007 @ 12:36pm

by Jon Zimney/KTAR/Associated Press

A 13-year-old girl who went missing while riding an all-terrain vehicle was found dead in a mine shaft, while her 10-year-old companion was rescued with serious injuries early Sunday.
A rope team descended into the vertical shaft, where the teen was found dead, Mohave County Sheriff's spokeswoman Sandy Edwards said. Efforts were under way to remove her body. Her family had been notified of her death.
Edwards did not know how the girls got into the mine or how far down they were. She also did not know the girls' relationship.
The pair went missing about 7 p.m. Saturday and never came back. Officials discovered they were in the shaft about 6:20 a.m. in Chloride, about 17 miles north of Kingman.
The 10-year-old girl had ``major injuries'' and was being transported to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Edwards said.
While the circumstances of how the girls ended up in the mine are not yet known, Edwards tells FM News/Talk 92.3 it's important that parents supervise their children when they ride ATV's.

"There's even places out there that offer safety courses," Edwards said. "Unfortunately we receive a lot of injuries when it comes to these ATV's and these kids. Even adults as well can get out there and if they're unexperienced they get hurt. Safety classes, safety gear, and just pay attention to your surroundings."

She also says you need to know your surroundings before you ride them in the desert, or wilderness. Edwards also says it's important to contact authorities if you come across any kind of vertical mine.
Laurie Swartzbaugh, deputy director of the Arizona State Mine Inspector's office, said the office was trying to gather information on the incident and would have comment later in the day Sunday. FM News/Talk 92.3 is updating this story on air, throughout the day.

http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=583044


Neighbors react to mine shaft accident involving two girlsKVOA.com - Tucson,AZ,USA
Associated Press
September 2, 2007

CHLORIDE, Ariz. (AP) - Neighbors in the rural community of Chloride in northwestern Arizona say the two young girls that fell into a mine shaft Saturday are described as sweet girls and loved by everybody.
Thirteen-year-old Rikki Howard and 10-year-old Casie Hicks, were riding three-wheel ATV's with their father, who was on a dirt bike early last evening. Rikki was killed in the accident and Casie was seriously injured. She was flown to a Las Vegas hospital.
Neighbor Seth Johnson says "It's an awful shock. Their parents are very distraught."
Johnson said Rikki resembled and liked to act like Paris Hilton, always concerned about her makeup and appearance.
Johnson says Casie loved to play the violin.
School bus driver Cathy Kelso says the girls "were loved by everybody."
Kelso calls the incident "horrible."