In a December 13 US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the producer said that the mine was given the order December 9 and that the levels were indicated in a “specific area” of the mine with no further details provided.
“All nonessential personnel were removed from the affected area and production was halted for a few hours,” the company said, adding that the US Mine Safety and Health Administration terminated the order the same day.
No injuries or accidents resulted from the condition, and Cliffs does not anticipate any material adverse impact on operations.
Cliffs did not release any further public comment.
Imminent danger orders are issued by MSHA under section 107(a) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act, also known as the Mine Act.
Section 1503 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act, amended last July, now requires disclosure of all imminent danger incidents as part of new reporting requirements regarding mine safety.
Cliffs announced the resumption of mining at Pinnacle in October after being idled since May for carbon monoxide issues.
Following the mine’s closure from weeks of sporadic carbon monoxide level spikes, the company intentionally flooded the affected portion of the operation while working on a remediation plan with MSHA.
The Pinnacle complex in Pineville, made up of the Pinnacle and Green Ridge mines and the Pinnacle preparation plant, operates the only longwall plow system operating in the US. Its annual capacity is 4 million tons of low to medium-volatile metallurgical coal.
