Kentucky newspaper the Herald-Leader said former Manalapan Mining superintendent Joseph Miniard and operations manager Jefferson Davis filed court motions via the company’s legal representatives to respond to federal grand jury charges.

The charges include communications to miners indicating the use of inadequate equipment and making crews work in areas where the roof was not properly supported.

Second shift foreman Bryant Massingale pleaded guilty in late August for his failure to note hazardous conditions in inspection reports and correct hazardous conditions at the P-1 operation near Pathfork.

He is due to be sentenced in January.

All of the alleged violations occurred just weeks prior to the June 30 roof fall that killed 49-year-old miner David Partin.

US Mine Safety and Health Administration officials have since proposed almost $US600,000 in fines for the mine’s violations relating to the incident.

MSHA’s penalties for the violations included one for $70,000 and three flagrant violations at $174,700 each.

Flagrant violations, established under the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006, can be assessed at a maximum civil penalty of $220,000 each.

Manalapan said earlier this year that it would contest the citations.

It also told the paper in August that company officials, as well as Davis and Miniard, were claiming innocence.

An MSHA spokeswoman did not return calls from ILN regarding the status of the fines and assessments.

“MSHA determined that the accident occurred because the mine operator failed to support or control the ribs to protect the miner on one of its mechanized mining units,” it said in July when the final investigation report was released.

“Additionally, the operator failed to conduct adequate pre-shift and on-shift examinations and ignored the hazardous rib conditions on the MMU.”

The agency said Manalapan failed to revise and upgrade its roof control plan for the operation’s changing geological conditions in the MMU.