Mrs. GUTSHALL. Yes; the Helen mine. Mr. Manula will be glad to give you a complete rundown on it. Mr. MANULA. This is the Homer City mine of the Helen Mining Co., North American Coal Corp. I was underground the morning of the ignition. I made a personal inspection tour with a commission of State bituminous coal mine inspectors. Our district mining inspector in that district had made his required inspection on February 23, or 28. We inspect gas emissions every 3 months. At that time, it was a new mine. They had just finished driving the slope, and were working away from the bottom. They had completed driving in the shaft. The slope is used to hoist the materials and coal-hoist the coal and supply mines with materials. It is a logistics and materials handling type of arrangement. The shack was used as an exhaust shaft for men and the fan. When they cut through, our inspector made his inspection at that time, and at that time he made recommendations to management to do certain things within the next few months, as the mining progressed away from this air connection. He posted his inspection notice on the bulletin, as required by law, for everyone to see, including the employees and mine safety committee for that mine. The mine was then inspected April 7, 8, and 9, I am not sure of those dates, by a Federal coal mine inspector. The day after the Federal coal mine inspection, we had a gas explosion. Luckily, the ventilating system was not crippled. Our inspector arrived underground, made a quick initial survey and investigation, closed the mining operation. We kept that mining operation closed for 2 weeks. 1 When they first went underground, there were some discrepancies in the ventilating system. They were using temporary stopping and so on, causing leakage, and no ventilation at the mining face. However, during the course of our investigation here, we interrogated, we took testimony from the mining crew involved, and they mentioned at this testimony that there were no violations of the Pennsylvania Coal Mining Act. Therefore, we simulated, after we cleared the mine of excess methane, and it took 2 of 3 days to do this, our commission, composed of three deputy mine inspectors and an electrical inspector, simulated or tried to simulate actually what had happened at that mine, and made a ventilation survey. These documents, the commission report and the inspection report, could be part of the reference for the investigating committee here, if they wish. These are available to you. (The information referred to follows:) COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND CUCNSOURO June 26, 1970 Honorable H. B. Charnbury and Mineral Industries Dear Dr. Charmbury: As requested at our meeting in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on June 23, 1970, we have defined item No. 2 of the Requirements and Recommendation of our Commission Report and submit our definition herewith. If this definition meets with your approval, would you please send a copy of this reply to Mr. James Hurley, President, Florence and Helen Mining Company, Drawer D, Homer City, Pennsylvania 15748. Respectfully submitted, L. D. Kimmel 16th Bituminous District G. A. Kephart 15th Bituminous District Lawrence Jones/ 19th Bituminous District Albin 0. Johnson Electrical Inspector COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND Eplosion;Homer City Mine Helen Mining Comp Drator D,Homer City, Pa.,15740 Hon H.D. Charbury, Secretary Dear Sir: Indiana, Pao Ho the undersigned cormission appointed by you on April 14, 1970, replacing the camittee appointed by the Hon.Charles B.Hanula to cânduct an investigation into the cause of the mine explosion which occured at the Honor City Mine of the Helen Mining Company on April 10,1970 and submitt a report of our findings and recommendations, have completed our investigation and here:ith submit the following report. If this report meets with your approval, please send one copy to kir.Alfred Horvath, Supt., of the Helen Mining Company, P.0.Box Drawer "D" Homer City, Pa.,15748 BRIEF HISTORY OF HOMER CITY MINE, KELEN MINING COMPAY P.O.BOX DRAMER "D" HOMER CITY, PERNA. 15749 The Honor City Mine,Holen kining Company operating in the "E" Sean (Upper Freeport) is located approximately 1 mile Northwest of the village of Coral, Pa., on the Test side of Deg.Route 32024 Present mine openings consists of a two compartment slope, on an angle of 10 dcgrees, 2,617 feet in length with belt installed in the top deck and track on the bottom for the transportation of men material and supplies. A single compartment shaft 603 feet in depth exhausting. The mine employes 11 men of which 121 are employes underground on 3 shifts a day producing 1,100 tons of coal 5 days a week by 3 29H Lee Norse Minors and 1 Joy 11CM Miner, all of which are continuous type mining machines, the coal is transported from the face areas to conveyor belts by 8ational Mine Service Company Torkars where it is then transported to the surface to coal storage silos through a metering station to the Homer City Generating Station. Power is supplied to the mine by an AC surface sub-station at 13.2 KV, transmitted underground by high voltage transmission cables to switch houses, which in turn supply to combination load centers where the power is reduced to face utilization voltage. producing 300,000 CFM at a 5 producing 170,800 CFM at a 2 Ventilation is provided by a propeller type fan capable of inch water gauge, and which at present is inch water gauge. The fan is installed in accordance with the requirements of the Bituminous Coal Mining “aws of Pennsylvania. |