Approximately 90 workers were evacuated from the operation about 11am local time on Tuesday and production was halted when a routine inspection showed 2,000 parts per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide, more than five times safe levels, according to local newspaper the State Journal Register. Boreholes were drilled towards the “hot spot” on Wednesday in an effort to douse it.
Officials have estimated the operation could re-open and begin production again as early as Monday. Freeman United president Walt Gregory said in a statement last Thursday that a mine team was entering to examine conditions.
“They will make safety checks and intend to determine the exact location for the construction of high-strength, permanent safety seals, the next step in the remediation plan,” he said. “What is certain is that production will only resume once we are confident that it is safe to do so.”
“I think we’re on the home stretch here (toward reopening) if everything goes well,” UMWA representative Gary Butler told the paper. The next step in the process, he said, is “injection of carbon dioxide into the affected panel to finalize the remediation process”
While some are out of a job due to the closure, Crown’s 200-plus workers will all continue to receive benefits, Butler said.
Freeman United is a division of Freeman Energy, which is part of the Material Service Resources Company, wholly owned by Virginia-based major defence contractor General Dynamics Corporation.
The company currently produces about 4.5Mt of coal from three mines, two underground and one surface. The Crown II and Crown III operations produce are room and pillar and mine from the Herrin No. 6 seam.
The company employs approximately 500 people throughout the state with headquarters located in Springfield, Illinois.
