Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 14, 1993 TAG: 9309140154
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RIPPLEMEAD LENGTH: Medium
Federal and state investigators lifted their mine closure orders Saturday, but the company has decided to idle the Kimballton mine - and 26 workers - until a technical support team from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration arrives this week, said mine official Don Cumbee.
No cause has been found for the rock fall that killed Brian Keith Ratcliffe, 28, and Timothy Wayne Francis, 41, but MSHA on Sunday cited APG Lime Corp. for not having a system in place to support the roof where the accident occurred. Under usual conditions, a limestone mine does not need artificial support as the size of the cut is normally narrow enough that the sides can support the roof, said MSHA spokeswoman Kathy Snyder.
MSHA issued the citation - for which a penalty has not been set - as a response to the accident, she said.
The two miners, Ratcliffe of Pearisburg and Francis of Peterstown, W.Va., were inside a Tamrock twin boom jumbo drill when they were killed last Thursday by a school-bus-size rock estimated at 150 to 175 tons, Cumbee said. The drill has one of the heaviest cab protection ratings available, he said.
The rock fell from the roof of a 26- to 28-foot high chamber, according to federal reports. Such areas are supported by 50- to 90-foot-wide limestone pillars, said Cumbee, the mine's general accounting manager.
The drill, which has an 18-foot drilling end, is used to cut 13-foot-deep holes into the rock. Miners then insert explosives into the hole and set them off. Afterward, workers secure loose rocks in the chamber and recover the limestone, which is then moved to the surface of the vast mine - it has 50 miles of underground roadways - for processing into lime. The above ground lime plant remains open.
Officials with the Virginia Division of Mineral Mining are focusing on the possibility that the fatalities occurred at the site of a bedding plane, said spokesman Mike Abbott.
In geological terms, a bedding plane is a surface separating stratified rock layers, such as the relatively pure limestone in the mine and lesser grades of limestone above.
Cumbee said last week that mine officials believe the rock fall occurred between a bedding plane and joint, which is an unseparated fracture in a rock.
A state geologist will inspect the mine to see if anything could have been done to prevent the rock fall, and to make recommendations on how to prevent future accidents, Abbott said.
Staff Writer Greg Edwards contributed information to this story.
by CNB