Situation Continues To Improve At Buchanan Mine
Pittsburgh,PA - Air monitoring at the Buchanan Mine near Mavisdale, Virginia, continues to show an overall improvement in the underground mine atmosphere. There are now 62 established monitoring stations that are measuring gas levels in the mine.
Overall levels of carbon monoxide continue to decline, indicating that there is no active combustion in the mine. Engineers believe that carbon monoxide in the mine is now being swept from the mine by the active ventilation flow. In addition, cameras inserted in several bore holes showed no smoke or signs of combustion in the mine and temperature readings from boreholes indicate the mine temperatures are at ambient levels.
The source of the carbon monoxide has not been determined. Engineers theorize that it may be from an ignition of a small amount of methane caused by one of the roof falls that occurred two weeks ago.
Last week, Buchanan Mine engineers submitted plans to federal and state safety agencies to drill additional boreholes into the mine to provide additional monitoring points. Several more boreholes are being drilled to provide additional monitoring stations. Inert gas is being pumped into several of the holes as a precautionary measure.
Once all monitoring stations show acceptable levels of the gases being monitored, and agency approval is secured, teams can re-enter the mine.
The mine continues to be ventilated and to ship coal from above ground inventories. There are no employees underground at the present time.
Production at the mine was idled on Monday, July 9, 2007 after several roof falls in previously mined areas, damaged some of the ventilation controls inside the mine, requiring a general evacuation of the mine by employees. No one was injured during the evacuation.
CONSOL Energy Inc., a high-Btu bituminous coal and coal bed methane company, is a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 Equity Index and has annual revenues of $3.7B. It has 15 bituminous coal mining complexes in six states and reports proven and probable coal reserves of 4.3B tons. In addition, the company is a majority shareholder in one of the largest U.S. producers of coalbed methane gas, CNX Gas Corporation. CONSOL Energy was named one of America's most admired companies in 2005 by Fortune magazine.
It received the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining National Award for Excellence in Surface Mining for the company's innovative reclamation practices in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
SOURECE: Buchanan Mine