Alpha Natural Resources spokesman Ted Pile said the accident was reported at 2.22pm local time and that the victim was a continuous miner operator.
Pile said the victim was standing near the machine when a massive rock unexpectedly broke from the right side of the mine, crushing him against the shuttle car.
The name of the victim has not been released, in line with company policy, but Pile said company counsellors were with the miner's wife and three children last night.
The victim had been a coal miner for 25 years, 11 of them in the Whitetail Kittanning Mine, which Alpha Natural Resources acquired from Coastal Coal Company in 2003, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
The incident was the 41st coal mine fatality in the country this year, 21 of which have occurred in West Virginia.
