At a recent hearing Judge R. Clarke Vandervort confirmed that the trial was still scheduled for April 20.

Media coverage indicates that the motions by Blankenship’s defence team are still “hanging in the balance.”

“Blankenship's attorneys have also sought to move the case out of southern West Virginia, where they don't think he can draw a fair jury,”Associated Press reported.

“His attorneys also want all judges in southern West Virginia disqualified from hearing the case. Federal prosecutors have opposed both requests.”

Blankenship is facing charges of conspiring to violate safety standards, defrauding federal investigators and falsifying coal dust samples. He faces up to 31 years in prison if convicted.

An underground gas explosion, believed to have been further fuelled by the ignition of coal dust, killed 29 miners at the Massey-operated UBB longwall mine in West Virginia in April 2010.

Alpha Natural Resources acquired Massey in mid-2011.

Last month Blankenship filed a lawsuit against ANR. He claimed it reneged on an agreement to pay his UBB-related legal costs.