TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – US fossil-fuels producer Consol Energy on Thursday announced it had received regulatory approval to resume operations at the Blacksville No 2 mine, in Pennsylvania, which was evacuated on March 12, when smoke was detected exiting the Orndoff shaft.
Consol said it expected full operations to start with the morning shift on Monday.
Twenty-one seals constructed by Consol advance teams at KuhnTown and Orndoff were on Tuesday deemed strong enough for the approved construction plan. On Thursday, Consol was conducting proactive safety and compliance training for all Blacksville No 2 employees in anticipation of restarting operations. The miner said it believed retraining was necessary to update its employees on the changes in the mine and the ventilation plan.
Blacksville No 2 produces about 400 000 t/m of coal under normal operations.