According to the Associated Press, both schools inked an agreement Thursday.

While the scope and focus of the research to be done has not yet been determined, the news service said the agreement provided the schools a framework with which to identify commonalities.

The teaming is not the first time the West Virginia industry has reached out to the mining community of China; state governor Joe Manchin offered technical assistance to Chinese officials in March when a flooded underground mine left 150 trapped.

Also, the West Virginia Development Office joined 13 US industry suppliers to exhibit the nation’s coal technology at the China Coal and Mining Exhibition last fall.

WVDO executive director and West Virginia Department of Commerce cabinet secretary Kelley Goes told ILN at the time that eight companies exhibited with the state agency and another five exhibited on their own.

They included: ChemBio Shelter, ConveyWeigh, Eastern Mining and Industrial Supply, Lifepod International, Petitto Mine Equipment, Phillips Machine Service, Preiser Scientific, Tabor Machine, Carbonoks, Guyan International, JH Fletcher, Kanawha Scales and Systems, and Mining Controls.

Goes also noted last November that the exhibition was not a technology exchange, but rather an opportunity for the state’s industry to offer its products and services to a global audience, as miner safety is of high interest to both countries.

The event was beneficial, as it allowed increasingly open talks between the two.

“Since the governor’s trip to Shanxi Province in 2007, we have been building a relationship with the mining industry in China to address issues of safety,” she said.

West Virginia is the second-largest coal-producing state in the US behind Wyoming.