Thursday, September 13, 2012

CONSOL Miner Killed

{Blacksville, West Virginia}...A miner was killed Thursday afternoon in a rock fall at Consol Energy's Blacksville No. 2 Mine operation in Monongalia County. CONSOL identified the miner as 61 year old William Edward Mock. Initial indications are that Mock was struck by a rock along the track haulage, a tunnel used to transport workers, coal and equipment in and out of the mine. Blacksville No. 2 is a large underground mine that employs 545 workers and last year produced about 4.3 million tons of coal. In each of the last two years, Blacksville No. 2 recorded injury rates that were slightly worse than the national average. The total number of U.S. coal miners killed on the job in 2012 is 15, which is ahead of last year's pace of 13 miners killed through mid-September.