Manalapan Mining’s legal representative entered the company’s guilty plea on charges that it did not provide the proper equipment – canopies or cabs – to protect miners from a roof fall or rib roll at the P-1 underground mine in Harlan County.

It faces a fine of up to $US250,000 for its alleged wilful act, said Kentucky newspaper the Herald-Leader .

Former operations manager Jefferson Davis and ex-superintendent Joseph Miniard Jr pleaded guilty to similar misdemeanor charges and could be given up to a year in jail.

Miniard faces even further time. According to the Herald-Leader, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge for signing inspection reports that did not include notes of the mine’s dangerous conditions.

That charge carries a potential five-year prison term.

Former foreman Bryant Massingale pleaded guilty to safety violations in August and is awaiting a January sentencing.

US district judge Gregory Van Tatenhove has set a March sentencing date for Manalapan, Davis and Miniard.

All of the alleged violations occurred just weeks prior to the June 30, 2011 roof fall that killed 49-year-old miner David Partin.

US Mine Safety and Health Administration officials have since proposed almost $US600,000 in fines for the mine’s alleged violations relating to the fatality.

MSHA’s penalties for the violations included one for $70,000 and three flagrant violations at $174,700 each.

Flagrant violations, established under the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006, can be assessed at a maximum civil penalty of $220,000 each.

Manalapan said earlier this year that it would contest the citations.

It also told the paper in August that company officials, as well as Davis and Miniard, were claiming innocence.

An MSHA spokeswoman did not return calls from ILN regarding the status of the fines and assessments.

“MSHA determined that the accident occurred because the mine operator failed to support or control the ribs to protect the miner on one of its mechanized mining units,” the agency said in July when the final investigation report was released.

“Additionally, the operator failed to conduct adequate pre-shift and on-shift examinations and ignored the hazardous rib conditions on the MMU.”

The agency said Manalapan failed to revise and upgrade its roof control plan for the operation’s changing geological conditions in the MMU.

According to federal data, the Pathfork mine, which was idled after the incident, dropped from 64 workers to just six employees in the quarter following Partin’s death. No production has been reported at the operation since the middle of last year.