Consol spokeswoman Lynn Seay told ILN late Wednesday that work was continuing to seal off the area of the fire that was first detected 10 days ago.

“The team is preparing to begin pumping nitrogen, the gas currently being used to deplete oxygen, into an additional borehole, which will bring our injection efforts to two boreholes taking water and two boreholes taking nitrogen into the mine,” she said.

“The drilling process for the isolation walls continues and six of the eight boreholes have been completed from the surface.”

Seay said all isolation wall pumping materials had arrived at the mine and pumping was expected to begin at about 3pm local time Wednesday afternoon.

“Drilling sites near the Kuhntown portal have been prepped and drilling rigs are on standby if it is determined that we need to drill additional boreholes in that location,” she said.

Consol remains at the complex near the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border town of Wayne, monitoring and maintaining safe gas levels around the clock while overseeing efforts.

Seay confirmed the mine remained closed and that no personnel would re-enter until it was determined safe to do so.

She did not indicate if any equipment had received damage but confirmed immediately after the incident last Tuesday that no injuries were reported by any workers.

US Mine Safety and Health Administration spokesman Jesse Lawder said the rocksilk process to seal the area where the fire was believed to be would continue until an inert environment was achieved.

“Once the sealed area is inert, rescue teams could possibly enter the underground area sometime next week to evaluate the area,” he said.

Blacksville’s 121 dayshift workers were evacuated on March 12 after smoke was discovered coming from the mine.

Both the mine and the preparation facility have been closed since that time and Consol has not indicated any timeline for the resumption of production.