A court in New Zealand has convicted the operator of a coal mine where 29 miners died in an explosion in November 2010 on all counts it faced over the tragedy.

Pike River Coal was convicted last week in Greymouth District Court on nine charges, including four for failing to ensure the safety of its employees and four for failing to ensure no employees, contractors or subcontractors were harmed while working at the mine.

A former boss at the Upper Big Branch-South Mine has been ordered to surrender his assistant underground foreman’s license for three years in an agreement that settles accusations he shut off his methane detector while conducting safety examinations, including on the day of the fatal April 2010 explosion.

The family of a veteran miner killed in a massive roof collapse inside an Idaho silver mine two years ago has filed a lawsuit against the operator.

Larry “Pete” Marek was killed in a cave-in deep inside Hecla Limited’s Lucky Friday Mine near Mullan.  Marek was buried under 30 feet of rock, and rescuers needed nine days to recover the body of the 53-year-old miner following the accident in April 2011.

Besides the Idaho-based company, its CEO along with six company managers and engineers were named in the litigation, according to the Spokane Tribune-Review.

Funding for mining safety and health research remains flat in NIOSH’s proposed fiscal year 2014 (FY 14) budget.

NIOSH’s Office of Mine Safety and Health Research will receive $52.4 million if the budget is approved, the same amount as provided in the last enacted federal budget, which was in FY 12.  The money does not include another $9.8 million under the mining research line item for what the budget identifies as business support services.

Edward E. Lopez has announced his retirement as manager of MSHA’s South Central Metal/Non-Metal District, effective April 19.  Lopez has taken a position with copper giant Freeport-McMoRan at its surface copper mine in Morenci, AZ.  There is no word on a replacement.

Charlie Carpenter has retired as manager in Coal District 4 (D4), Mt. Hope, WV.  His replacement reportedly is D. Scott Mandeville, currently the Assistant District Manager for Technical Support in D12, Beckley.  Lincoln Selfe, Jr. is acting manager until Mandeville moves into the position.

MSHA will end all state grants funding and cut funds for coal plan approvals and from the Small Mines Consultation Program (SMCP) while seeking an increase of $6.4 million for its enforcement programs and regulatory initiatives in a $380.7 million fiscal year 2014 (FY 14) budget proposal released today. 

An administrative law judge (ALJ) has upheld a special assessment against an Alabama coal operator and a fine imposed upon one of its foremen following an incident in which three underground rail cars broke free and nearly struck a miner while travelling out of control for three-quarters of a mile.

ALJ William Moran brushed aside arguments raised by Oak Grove Resources, LLC challenging the validity of an order an MSHA inspector issued for violation of a 19-year-old safeguard at its Oak Grove mine. 

A 30-year-old contract supervisor was killed Thursday afternoon at Freeport-McMoRan Bagdad, Inc.’s surface copper mine of the same name, which is located in the western Arizona community of Bagdad.

A Kentucky coal operator’s effort to rid itself of a nettlesome coal miner has ended in failure.

In a 12-page decision released today, a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an administrative law judge’s 2012 decision reinstating miner Charles Scott Howard to his position as an underground face worker at Cumberland River Coal Co.’s (CRCC) Band Mill No. 2 Mine.  In that decision, ALJ Margaret Miller also imposed a $30,000 fine, $10,000 above what MSHA had proposed.