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18 www.coalage.com November 2014 workers due in part to the termination of a coal supply agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority. The company said October 29 that the decision was also mar- ket driven. Impacted Bowie workers will receive 60 days of wages and benefits in addition to a severance package, and the miner confirmed it will offer relocation assistance to those who fill other open BRP positions. "We regret the need to take this difficult action," said Chief Operating Officer Gene DiClaudio. "We hope to retain as many of these valued members of the Bowie team as we can — and plan to offer positions at BRP's other mining operations to as many affect- ed employees as possible. "Although we are reducing production at Bowie No. 2 at this time, we believe there may be opportunities for Colorado coal in the future — both here at home and in the global marketplace." In addition to Bowie, located near Paonia, BRP owns and oper- ates three underground coal mines in Utah. As the leading western bituminous coal producer, it is projecting coal sales of 17 million tons for full-year 2014. Underground Mines Complying With New Dust Rule Despite concerns voiced by the mining industry that it would have trouble meeting the requirements of the new rule to reduce res- pirable coal mine dust, nearly all (99%) of the 7,456 valid res- pirable dust samples collected during the first two months met compliance levels, according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Between August 1 and September 30, MSHA collected 4,255 dust samples from 515 coal mines; 20 of those (or nearly 0.5%) exceeded compliance levels used to determine if a violation is war- ranted. Of the 3,201 samples submitted by mine operators, 42 (or 1.3%) exceeded compliance levels. The new dust rule, which took effect on August 1, substantial- ly increases operator sampling for respirable coal mine dust and requires an operator to take immediate corrective action when an operator's sample shows excessive concentrations. The final rule authorizes MSHA to cite an operator based on a single MSHA sample showing excessive dust, rather than on an average of samples. n e w s c o n t i n u e d Walter Energy's Sycamore Mine Enjoys Record Safety Officials at Walter Energy Inc. have announced employees at their Sycamore mine in West Virginia have surpassed two full years without a single accident. This encompasses more than 75,000 man-hours over when productivity improved 20%, they added, while costs fell by 26%. The open cast project near Powellton became the focus of Walter's "Shoot for Two" program last year to encourage Sycamore's 45 on-site employees to continue a second injury-free year following a previous 12-month timespan; in all, the asset has witnessed one lost-time accident since Q3 2008 after oper- ations commenced. Having exceeded the milestone on September 26, "it proves great safe- ty performance and strong operational performance go hand in hand," said Ed Turner, general manager of Walter's West Virginia Surface Operations; the mine produces about 500,000 tons of thermal and met coal annually for U.S. consumers. Yoon Recognized with IMPC Lifetime Achievement Award Achievements in fine particle recovery and associated environmental benefits representing decades of work, garnered Professor Roe-Hoan Yoon of Virginia Tech the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from the 27 th International Mineral Processing Congress (IMPC). The award was announced at its meeting held in Santiago, which is held once every three years. Since the 1980s, Yoon, a member of the a National Academy of Engineering, and his colleagues in Virginia Tech's College of Engineering have developed various advanced separation processes for the minerals and coal industries, including microbubble flotation, dewatering aids, hyberbaric centrifuge and hydrophobic-hydrophilic separation (HHS). The first three have been commercialized, and the last will soon be tested at a pilot scale, an essential step before commercialization. "With this new technology, with a patent pending, the industry will be able to recover the ultrafine coal that was previously thought to be unrecover- able," Yoon said. This development also means less coal will be lost to the environment and it will help companies' finances, he added. For Yoon, his life's work started after he learned in a high school chem- istry class how detergents remove dirt from clothes. He was hooked on the "why factor." He took his fascination with bubbles, and in the 1980s devel- oped the microbubble flotation process, a term he coined to advocate the use of small air bubbles to separate fine coal from mineral matter and recover the valuable energy resource better. He secured research funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology to develop and patent the microbub- ble flotation process, which has been marketed commercially under the name Microcel. The coal industry regards it as one of the best technologies separat- ing fine particles. During the last 15 years or more, Yoon and his colleagues have also been developing advanced technologies for separating water from fine coal. Alpha Tops in Nationwide Mine Rescue Championship Mine rescue teams from Alpha Natural Resources mines in West Virginia and Virginia have taken all three top placements at the 2014 Nationwide Coal Mine Rescue Skills Championship, held recently in southwestern Pennsylvania. The three teams with the fastest times took the top prizes, including first place winners Alpha's Coal River East team from West Virginia. Second place went to Alpha's Brooks Run South Black crew from West Virginia, and third place to the Alpha Maxxim Blue group from Virginia. A total of 24 mine rescue teams from across the country participated in the two-day competition October 7-8 at the Mining Technology and Training Center (MTCC) in Prosperity. Simulated emergency exercises involved smoke exploration and ventilation as well as firefighting, fire hose management, gas detection, air measurements, use of breathing apparatus and a written test. Aside from Prosperity, the MTCC has another location in Beckley, West Virginia. Both locations provide mine emergency response training, including training opportunities for mine rescue teams and first responders. "The skills competition held this week is a model for a new direction in training, and a testament to the dedication of those who volunteer their time and put their lives on the line," said Joseph A. Main, assistant secre- tary of labor for mine safety and health. "These men and women undertake some of the most risky emergency response in our country for their fellow miners." 2 0 1 4 A W A R D S %