
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 2, 1993                   TAG: 9310020301
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RIPPLEMEAD                                LENGTH: Medium

MINERS ASSIST IN TESTS

Miners have returned to work at a Giles County limestone mine where two men were killed by a rock fall last month. Normal operations have not resumed, however, a company spokesman said Thursday.

The 26 miners who went on unemployment Sept. 17 returned to work five days later and have been drilling core samples to test geologists' theories of what caused the fatal accident Sept. 9, said APG Lime Corp.'s Don Cumbee.

Underground operations at the Kimballton mine along Stony Creek ceased for 13 days after the rock fall. Work in the above-ground processing plant continued with stockpiled limestone.

As of Thursday, no new rock had been moved to the surface, and work off the stockpile continued, Cumbee said. The company will lease a single-boom drill to replace the twin-boom jumbo drill destroyed in the accident, he said.

Two state geologists from the Charlottesville-based Division of Mineral Resources conducted an investigation following the rock fall and should complete a report this month, said Mike Abbott, spokesman for the state Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy.

The Lynchburg-based Division of Mineral Mining, which regulates non-coal mines and quarries, is also completing a report, he said.

Investigators from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration have finished their work at the site and are completing a detailed report summarizing what they believe caused the accident, said spokesman Tom Brown.

Until that report is issued, Brown said, he can't discuss any theories of what caused the rock fall.

Miners Timothy Wayne Francis, 41, of Peterstown, W.Va., and Brian Keith Ratcliffe, 28, of Pearisburg died when a rock the size of a school bus and estimated to weigh between 150 and 175 tons fell on them as they worked in the cab of the twin-boom drill.

Both the federal and state agencies have cited APG Lime for not having a sufficient roof-support system in place. The state has given the company until Oct. 15 to come up with a plan to improve the mine's roof support or risk a closure order.

Once the federal investigation is complete and the report filed, the federal agency will send the citation against APG Lime to its assessment section. Officials there will determine any possible fine against the company using criteria that include the mine's history, its size, the number of previous accidents, the impact on the mine's business and the attitude of the operator in fixing previous problems, Brown said.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB