ARCHIVE

Preliminary report released into WY death

A PRELIMINARY report has been released into the death of a Wyoming miner has been released by the...

Donna Schmidt

Jacob Dowdy, 24, was killed on August 16 at about 12.39am in a machinery accident at Thunder Basin Coal’s Black Thunder surface complex in Campbell County, Wyoming.

He was listed in the report as having two years and 50 weeks of mining experience, all of it at the Arch Coal operation.

“A P&H 2800 electric shovel was ascending an approximate 9% grade when the shovel lost propel capabilities and rolled backwards down the grade, crushing two Ford F350 flatbed utility pickup trucks,” the agency said.

“One pickup operator [Dowdy] received fatal crushing injuries and the second pickup operator was entrapped for approximately one-and-a-half hours.”

The injured miner was transported by ambulance to a nearby medical center for treatment. His updated condition was not available Monday afternoon.

According to federal data, the Black Thunder mine has 1574 workers, 1548 of which work at the mine itself. There were 277 miners on shift at the time of the incident.

MSHA classified Dowdy’s death as a machinery fatality.

Dowdy is the 13th miner to die in US coal in 2013 and the first in Wyoming.

TOPICS:

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2024 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of exploration trends and technologies, highlighting the best intercepts and discoveries and the latest initial resource estimates.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Automation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations using autonomous solutions in every region and sector, including analysis of the factors driving investment decisions