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consol energy continued " Today, we don't do anything if it's unsafe, we shut it down... Absolute Zero is here today, it will be here tomorrow and it will still be here in 20 years." —Jimmy Brock, COO-Coal, CONSOL Energy mains deeper into the reserves. The long- walls have 54-inch panel belts and all of the production feeds onto 84- and 72-inch main line conveyor networks. Ventilating such a large underground network is a massive, complicated under- taking. At any one time, there may be as many as 20 fans exhausting air from ven- tilation or bleeder shafts. These shafts cost $10 to $15 million and generate up to 600,000 cfm. "We like to err on the safe side when it comes to ventilation—more is better than not enough," Brock said. "We design our bleeder system where the air is flowing openly to carry away and render harmless any dust or noxious gas. There is a balance between pressure dif- ferentials and the actual amount of air needed to carry away the dust and gas. In addition to looking at the size of the gob, we also look at the efficiency of moving air through the area we have to ventilate." Men enter the mines by shaft elevators and most of the materials are transported through the slopes. In a shift, they can move a continuous miner from the surface to wherever it's going using rail- and diesel- powered locomotives. Miners are already using the new Dry Ridge portal at Bailey, reducing the underground commute, which currently stands at 90 minutes round trip, to 20 minutes. Similarly, the new Pleasant Grove portal was recently completed for the Enlow Fork mine. The new Bailey overland and slope con- veyor system allowed CONSOL Energy to seal a large portion of the mine giving it a temporary advantage over Enlow Fork. Unfortunately, at the end of July, the new raw coal belts suffered a partial collapse. Prior to the problems with the Bailey raw coal feed belts, the complex was on pace to mine 20.7 million clean tons in 2012. The BMX mine began producing in 2009 and the longwall is scheduled to start-up in late February 2014. "We are currently hiring and training BMX miners," Brock said. "We 24 www.coalage.com are currently running four continuous min- er units at BMX and getting ready to start a fifth. We are on schedule for the February deadline." The BMX mine will add another 5 million clean tons. At full production in 2015, the Bailey Complex will be producing 25 to 26 million clean tons per year. The BMX mine is a massive capital investment, even by CONSOL Energy stan- dards. The total cost of $662 million includes upgrades to the Bailey prep plant, such as the construction of several new raw and clean coal silos, expansion of existing railroad facilities, and installation of addi- tional raw coal material handling systems. CONSOL Energy is also constructing a new $207 million slope and overland belt at the Enlow Fork mine. That project began in 2010 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2013. When completed, CONSOL Energy will seal 6 miles of underground belt and take six fans off line. There will be a big savings on electricity. A similar project at the Blacksville mine reduced the footprint of the mine by 24%, eliminating three fans and saving the mine more than $150,000 per year. "More importantly, with the smaller footprint, it has less risk for our employees, less exposure for violations, and it makes the mine much easier to manage," Brock said. Management Philosophy The mantra among CONSOL Energy man- agers and miners is: safety, compliance and continuous improvement. "We meet regularly with the miners and ask them to repeat the values," Brock said. "When they say safety is the No. 1 value, we ask them to explain that. The correct answer is safety is a way of life." Working during the summers while in college, Brock cut his teeth as a union min- er at the Matthews mine in Tennessee. Upon graduation, he went to work for CONSOL Energy in 1980. His career path took him to the Buchanan mine, Virginia Pocahontas No. 8, Mill Creek, Humphrey, 100th Anniversary Special Issue Dilworth and Robinson Run. In 2008, after the completion of a huge modernization program at Robinson Run, he was promot- ed to senior vice president of the northern Appalachian mines. In 2010, he was pro- moted to COO-Coal. Six years ago, the U.S. coal industry entered a dark period that began with Sago and it continued to suffer one disaster after another. During this period, CONSOL CEO Brett Harvey decided enough is enough and proactively took steps to reduce acci- dents at the company. "What every coal miner needs to understand is that those events affect all of us," Brock said. "It's not just that site or that mining company, it impacts all of us." Harvey said safety trumps everything and started the Absolute Zero program. "A lot of us were skeptical," Brock said. "He put the top 16 executives in a room and said 'there's no rank in the room, now let's figure this out.' We worked through it. People started to speak up and our compa- ny experienced a cultural shift in the way we do business. "Today, we don't do anything if it's unsafe, we shut it down," Brock said. "Absolute Zero is here today, it will be here tomorrow and it will still be here in 20 years." CONSOL Energy's safety performance is 2.5 times better than the national aver- age. While that is certainly respectable, they are not content because they have not reached zero. In 2007, CONSOL Energy had 7,500 employees and 226 exceptions when the Absolute Zero plan was put into play. An exception is defined as when someone receives medical treat- ment or they miss work related to an injury. In 2011, the company grew to 9,100 employees, while experiencing 161 exceptions. "The workforce grew and exceptions were reduced," Brock said. "That doesn't just happen. Cultural change requires a constant effort every day. To me, it's the most incredible accomplishment I have seen in my career and it will only get better." Developing a Longwall Leader The Bailey Complex is the flagship opera- tion for CONSOL Energy. The company has made some major capital investments recently to widen the longwall faces, devel- op the BMX mine, build the Training Academy, and install the overland and slope August 2012 "