PHILIPPI, W.Va. – Operators of a large coal mine in north central West Virginia have announced plans to extinguish an underground mine fire.
Core Natural Resources will temporarily seal the longwall operation of the Leer South operation in Barbour County. The seal will starve the underground fire of oxygen. Core officials say the decision to seal the mine was made in consultation with state and federal regulators.
The company believes they’ll be able to resume development with continuous miners within three months and should be able to resume longwall production by the middle of the year.
“On behalf of the Core management team, I want to commend Leer South personnel for their exceptional efforts in managing a challenging situation safely and effectively, and I want to thank the regulatory agencies for their great support during this process,” said Paul A. Lang, Core’s chief executive officer. “While we are disappointed that we may be losing around two quarters of longwall production at Leer South, we are confident we are taking the right steps to protect the mine, mining equipment, and infrastructure.”
Miners were evacuated when the fire started January 13th. Nobody was injured in the fire and officials have concluded there was no damage to any underground equipment.
Lang continued in a company press release they believe they understand the source of the fire and its location.
“We have a good understanding of where the combustion-related activity is occurring and are confident that this limited activity does not currently present a threat to the longwall equipment. Working closely and cooperatively with federal and state officials, we plan to temporarily seal the active longwall panel and apply water and nitrogen to extinguish this combustion-related activity, which should lead to the most expeditious resumption of mining.”
Core said the restart of operations in the second quarter of 2025 will be a multi-phased operation starting with the development of ventilation controls. The second phase will be development with continuous miner activity and eventually preparation for future longwall panels. Core officials believe the plan will enable efficient operations for the longwall in the second half of the year.
“Looking ahead, the Core operations team has already initiated efforts to help ensure that we avoid such incidents in the future,” said George J. Schuller Jr., Core’s chief operating officer. “We are confident that there are steps we can take – in the areas of monitoring, degassing, and the installation of proactive mitigation systems – that should enable us to avoid future outages.”