Company spokeswoman Lynn Seay said its advance teams working in the KuhnTown and Ornduff locations of the operation near the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border town of Wayne pumped the first permanent seal on Tuesday afternoon.
A second was completed on Wednesday.
Seay said the group’s goal was to wrap up work on the first six of 26 seals by Saturday evening.
“The teams continue to clean and prep the other areas for the final seal construction and are making progress,” she said.
Additionally, Seay noted, normal pre-shift examinations and regular weekly airway inspections of Blacksville have both recommenced.
Around-the-clock gas monitoring is also ongoing at the mine.
Seay confirmed levels there remained steady.
Last week in its first-quarter projections, the Pennsylvania-based company said the fire – from which 121 day crew workers escaped unharmed – would have an impact on its earnings results to the potential tune of $US15.2 million pre-tax.
“The fire has since been extinguished as of March 24,” officials confirmed April 12.
“The pre-tax expense impact reflects the expenses incurred to extinguish the fire.
“Insurance recovery is uncertain at this time and the impact of any potential recovery has not been reflected in the three months ended March 31.”
Consol has not yet made any public comment on the impact of the now five-week-old idle on its whole-year tonnage goals, nor has it confirmed damage to any equipment or underground resources.
Blackville, which mines coal with a single longwall as well as continuous mining sections, produced about 3 million tons last year from the prolific Pittsburgh 8 seam.
