Apr 5, 2013 2 min read

Consol Energy has continued to explore and inspect various underground sections of the Blacksville No. 2 Mine and hopes to complete the examination of the entire mine by Monday, the company said Friday.

The mine has been idled since March 12 when a fire broke out in the mine. The company does not yet know when the mine will resume production, company spokeswoman Lynn Seay said in an email.

Mine rescue teams completed the examination of the haulage tracks and belt entries between the Wana, W.Va., shaft and the Kuhntown shaft area and encountered no problems, Seay said. They also have inspected haulage tracks and belt entries from the Kuhntown bottom to the 5 West main line haulage at 10 Block.

Teams have completed work to construct seals to isolate the area of the mine affected by the fire from the rest of the mine and continue to pump water from the mine to aid the exploration efforts.

The fire was discovered when smoke was detected coming from the mine’s Orndoff shaft in Wayne Township. All underground employees were safely evacuated.

The company began pumping water into the mine through an existing borehole and drilled a number of other boreholes from the surface to allow it to pump water and inject nitrogen into the affected area to douse the fire. After air monitors indicated the fire had abated, mine rescue teams were able to re-enter the mine March 27.