Gateway received the honor from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Office of Mines and Minerals for having the best incidence rate for underground operations in the division two category, mines with less than 500,000 work hours.

In 2009, the mine achieved a 1.05 incidence rate per 200,000 hours worked, an almost six-fold improvement over the 2009 industry average of 6.02.

The mine also set a record as the safest underground operation in Peabody history.

“Our safety vision is to operate safe workplaces that are incident-free,” Peabody executive vice-president and chief operating officer Eric Ford said.

“Congratulations to the leadership and the workforce at Gateway mine for bringing this vision to life, as evidenced by their safety and operations excellence.”

Located in Randolph County near Coulterville, Illinois, Gateway shipped approximately 3.2 million tons of coal in 2009.

Worldwide, Peabody has earned more than two dozen awards for safety, financial leadership, stewardship and good neighbor practices over the past two years.

The Illinois Mining Institute also recognized Gateway’s operations manager Cliff Walker and operations associate Dan McLean with Awards of Excellence.

A 35-year industry veteran, Walker was recognized with the IMI Excellence in Mining Experienced Miner Award for his achievements at Gateway.

The institute honored Walker for operating one of Illinois' safest, most cost-efficient and productive mines.

The Excellence in Mining Apprentice Miner Award also honors the exceptional performance of apprentice professional personnel in Illinois mines.

McLean, a former Peabody intern and scholarship recipient, graduated from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale with a mining engineering degree.

The Illinois Mining Institute is a 116-year-old organization that promotes mineral industries in Illinois.