Consol Energy's 3.2 million st/year Blacksville No. 2 steam coal mine may not resume production for "at least" another 30 days so safety workers can monitor new seals installed to smother a possible underground fire, West Virginia's top mine safety official said Wednesday.
But the official, Eugene White, followed up by emphasizing, "The intentions are, to get this mine started as soon as possible."
Consol representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Last week, federal and state safety officials indicated the underground mine appeared ready to resume production after a seven-day curing period for the seals. Consol, however, said there were no guarantees Blacksville would resume production at that time.
Consol idled the Pittsburgh 8-seam coal mine, which straddles the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border, on March 12 after smoke was detected at a portal. Underground air readings indicated a smoldering fire, which apparently has since been extinguished. The fire occurred in a nonproducing part of the mine where the 21 seals were installed.
White, director of West Virginia's Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training, said in phone interview that these plans have changed out of a desire "to err on the side of caution."
"There was a meeting that took place last week" aimed at resuming normal operations at the mine, he said, and which involved state and federal mine safety and company officials.
"Everybody was hoping that we'd get the mine in operation this week, but everyone agreed to an additional monitoring period," White said. "What they're doing is hand-held gas detection at the seals and taking bottle samples weekly."
That procedure, he said, "may go for an additional 30 days ... What we are allowing [Consol] to do is maintain [Blacksville] with certified foremen, assistant foremen or trained mine rescue personnel." But no production will occur during that time.
In a subsequent phone interview, however, White said that, after speaking with Consol officials, the intent remains to bring the mine back into production as soon as possible.
The seals' purpose is "to seal off where the fire was -- it's in part of an old mine that was examined weekly ... It's sealed enough to snuff out the fire."
An exact cause of the fire hasn't been determined, White said.
