
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, November 6, 1993                   TAG: 9311060105
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: COEBURN                                LENGTH: Medium

SMOKING MATERIAL FOUND IN MINE

For the third time in a month, a surprise inspection turned up evidence of smoking at an underground mine in Virginia within miles of a fatal explosion sparked by a lighter, federal officials said Friday.

"It's hard to understand how anyone could smoke in an underground coal mine after all that has occurred to draw attention to the deadly danger," said Ed Hugler, acting assistant secretary of labor for mine safety.

Inspectors with the Mine Safety and Health Administration cited The Parts Corporation of America No. 2 mine in Buchanan County with safety violations after finding smoking materials underground Monday.

The company is a subsidiary of Thyssen Mining Construction Inc., based in Coeburn. Thyssen Mining President Eberhard Enneper said Friday that he fired eight of the 10 miners working when the inspection took place.

"Nobody got caught smoking, but all smokers were fired," Enneper said. "I am totally surprised that our people didn't follow our instructions not to take any fire elements into the mine."

Although there have been periodic searches for smoking materials, there was no search on the day of the surprise inspection, he said.

Inspectors with MSHA and the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy previously found smoking materials at two mines in Lee County - a Big Fist Coal Co. mine on Oct. 4 and a Big Dog Coal Co. mine on Oct. 15.

At the Parts Corporation mine, inspectors found a pack of cigarettes and a lighter under a coal-scoop seat cushion, an open pack of cigarettes and a lighter adjacent to a coal rib where the continuous-mining machine was operating, and one cigarette butt and one half-smoked cigarette on the mine floor.

Besides citing the company for inadequate searches for smoking materials, federal inspectors found eight other violations related to ventilation, accumulation of combustible materials and movement of miners into areas beyond permanent roof supports.

An explosion in a Southmountain Coal Co. mine near Norton on Dec. 7, 1992, killed eight miners.

MSHA later concluded that gas built up to combustible levels because the operators failed to properly ventilate the mine, and a miner carrying cigarettes ignited the explosion with a butane lighter.

by CNB