The Pennsylvania academy, which officially opened its doors in March 2012, welcomed a tour for press and members of the local industry on Thursday.

The underground training academy includes two classrooms called “Mind Shafts”, where technical, safety and logistical training is provided.

The academy also hosts a fully operational underground section of the Bailey mine dedicated solely to training, which provides students with the opportunity to practice using underground mining equipment.

Over the course of a typical five-day training program students are taught to operate a continuous mining machine, a miner bolter machine, a loading machine, a shuttle car and a section scoop.

Attendees also learn section standards and technical and hazard awareness training.

To date 204 miners have completed the program with 350 forecast to finish by the end of the year.

Consol president Nicholas DeIuliis said the underground training facility was the first of its kind dedicated to coal mining in the US.

“Preparing the workforce of tomorrow to do our work safely will allow Consol Energy to continue to push the envelope and drive improvement into our next 150 years," Deluliis said during a press briefing.

"This facility is unique to our industry and demonstrates clearly our commitment to our top core value of safety.”

Pittsburgh-based Consol has 12 bituminous coal mining complexes in four states and reports proven and probable coal reserves of 4.2 billion tons.

The Bailey mine complex is the company's largest underground mining operation.