The Virginia-based group said the 16 awards, mostly handed down to universities, were made in four focus areas: safety; health; safety and health management; and training – with each topic having multiple winners.

Earning grants in safety were the Colorado School of Mines for numerical modelling methodologies for assessing burst potential in coal mines, as well as development of a new rock dust sampling instrument; the University of Kentucky for the application of flooded bed dust scrubbers to longwall mining systems; and the University of Utah for control of spontaneous combustion using pressure balancing techniques.

Virginia Tech will also be given funding for operational sensitivity of through-the-earth communication and West Virginia University Foundation will research integrated surface mining safety systems.

In health, four schools were selected to further their projects.

Northeastern University will research whole body vibration exposure and injury prevention of heavy equipment operators in open pit coal mines and University of California – Berkeley will examine ischemic heart disease and lung cancer mortality in relation to respirable particulate matter and diesel exhaust in non-metal miners.

The University of Illinois at Chicago will delve into clarifying distribution, trends, and determinants of adverse health in United States miners: exploration and integration of existing data systems and clinical materials, while the University of Pittsburgh’s study is entitled “connecting dust characteristics and worker health in underground coal mining”

The United Steelworkers was a selected group in the safety and health management segment for its project: characteristics of and barriers to effective hazardous identification and control programs in US metal and non-metal mines, while the University of Arizona will research implementation of risk management programs: identification of best practices to reduce injuries and maximise economic benefits.

The University of Connecticut Health Center was awarded funding for the mining health workplace program, as was Virginia Tech for improved safety through application of risk management in us underground coal mines: a RISKGATE approach.

Finally, in the training focus area, two schools were selected to receive grant awards.

They were the University of Arizona for effective mining safety training – design, implementation and evaluation and the West Virginia University Foundation for enhanced mobile equipment experiential learning and safety technology demonstration.

A call for papers seeking this important research was released in January 2013. The foundation said it received a total of 160 submissions.

Following an initial phase of review, concept papers were selected for development into full research proposals.

The review teams evaluated the submissions across multiple criteria to ensure applicability of the proposed solutions and the rigour of the research approaches.

The group said final budgets were being discussed with the award recipients.

“The foundation has been most pleased with the depth of research and innovation evident in the proposals and the potential impact on safety and health needs in the mining industry,” president Dr Michael Karmis said.

He noted that subsequent calls for concepts would be issued in the near future to provide funding for additional safety and health research projects.

The Alpha Foundation for the Improvement of Mine Safety and Health was formed in December 2011, part of a non-prosecution agreement between Alpha Natural Resources, Alpha Appalachian Holdings, the Department of Justice and the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, stemming from the April 2010 Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 workers.

As part of the agreement, Alpha agreed to establish a trust to fund projects designed to improve mine health and safety by providing $48 million into the trust.