CONSOL Energy Provides Update on Buchanan Mine
July 10 2007 - 9:36AM
PR Newswire (US)
PITTSBURGH, July 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Buchanan Mine,
near Mavisdale, Virginia, recorded two suspected roof caving events
that are believed to have occurred in longwall panels that had been
mined. These two roof caves, which occurred at approximately 9:43
AM and 9:45 AM EDT yesterday, created compression air waves that
disrupted ventilation controls along several nearby mine entries.
As a precaution, miners exited the mine following standard
evacuation procedures. Several supervisors made a preliminary
assessment of the situation underground before exiting the mine.
All employees are accounted for and there were no injuries as a
result of the roof cave. The company is continuing to ventilate the
mine and is monitoring various gas levels in the mine to determine
the overall impact on the mine. Based on gas readings thus far, the
company believes there is no active combustion occurring in the
mine. The company will continue to monitor various gas levels until
the trend at all monitoring stations confirms that it is safe to
re-enter the mine and repair the areas where ventilation controls
were damaged. State and Federal safety agencies are at the scene
and must concur in the assessment regarding safety prior to
employees re-entering the mine. During the period when production
is idle, the company expects to ship coal from inventory. 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 $3.7 billion. It has 15 bituminous coal
mining complexes in six states and reports proven and probable coal
reserves of 4.3 billion 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. Also in 2003, the company was listed in Information Week
magazine's "Information Week 500" list for its information
technology operations. In 2002, the company received a U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Climate Protection Award.
Additional information about the company can be found at its web
site: http://www.consolenergy.com/ . "Safe Harbor" Statement under
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in
this news release regarding CONSOL Energy's business which are not
historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve
risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and
uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from
those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk
Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most
recently ended fiscal year. DATASOURCE: CONSOL Energy Inc. CONTACT:
Thomas F. Hoffman of CONSOL Energy Inc., +1-412-831-4060 Web site:
http://www.consolenergy.com/
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