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According to the Associated Press, miner safety was in jeopardy due to "unexpected and unusual stress" in mine pillars recently discovered underground as well as "other unforeseen geological and mining conditions". Plans to move to a new longwall panel had also been scrapped, it said.
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The mine near Price, Utah, was cited and fined $US420,000 last week by the US Mine Safety and Health Administration for what it defined as flagrant violations of federal laws. With a 2600鈥�3200ft overburden range, it is known as the deepest operating coal mine in the United States with the deepest working longwall face.
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A request for comment from International Longwall News by UtahAmerican was not returned by press time, but a company statement made Friday noted Tower employees will be offered jobs at other Murray Energy operations, particularly sister mine West Ridge.
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MSHA told the Deseret Morning News over the weekend that deep mines are a special area of concern for the agency.
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鈥淲e cannot speculate as to what 'unforeseen changes' UtahAmerican referenced in its press release; however, following the Crandall Canyon accident, MSHA has been more closely monitoring ground conditions at the Aberdeen (Tower) Mine and underground mines with more than 750 feet cover," the agency was reported to have said.
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The Tower mine was voluntarily idled for several months in 2007 for an equipment and safety violation, and was given the go-ahead by federal authorities for restart in late November.
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According to last year's Coal Report by the Utah Geological Survey, the operation has 19.3 million tons of leased reserves and the Aberdeen section of the operation was expected to produce 1.8Mt in 2007.
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Longwall mining began at the 250-worker Tower operation in 1992. The mine's seam ranges from 6.5ft to 10ft and, as of early 2007, about 50Mt of reserves remained at the complex.
