In Alpha’s December 2 US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, officials said a miner was observed at its Grassy Creek No 1 mine cleaning a continuous miner’s water sprays before the power source was locked and tagged out.

The company noted the circuit breaker to open all of the power conductors entering the unit had been opened before the work started.

“White Buck believes that the miner’s actions were in compliance with MSHA’s Program Policy Letter No. P11-V-01, which became effective February 8, 2011 and states that certain maintenance work, such as ‘changing water sprays’ can be performed on a continuous mining machine ‘with the circuit breaker opened that opens all power conductors entering the machine’,” Alpha said in the SEC documentation.

“The Grassy Creek No 1 mine has received no prior citations or orders alleging similar violations during the past twelve months.”

It also confirmed that no injuries were reported as a result of the practice for which it was cited, and it has since retrained its miners on locking and tagging procedures.

The order was terminated the same day as it was issued.

Another Alpha operation received an imminent danger November 14 because of a hazardous condition on one of its haul roads.

Officials said that MSHA observed part of a haul road at the North Surface mine to be too steep, exceeding the maximum grade recommended by the manufacturer of certain rock trucks using the road.

No injuries were reported from that cited condition either, and subsidiary Alex Energy removed the trucks as well as a loader from that portion of the roadway and the order was terminated.

Imminent danger orders are issued by MSHA under section 107(a) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act, also known as the Mine Act.

Section 1503 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act, amended last July, now requires disclosure of all imminent danger incidents as part of new reporting requirements regarding mine safety.

Alpha, since the closure of its acquisition of Massey Energy in June, now controls about five billion tonnes of reserves in central and northern Appalachia, the Illinois Basin and the Powder River Basin and is the second largest reserve holder in the nation.

Alpha’s met coal reserve base is now among the world’s largest and highest quality, with assets including about 150 coal mines and 40 preparation facilities.