However, work is continuing to sink a drill into the earth over the mine for a seventh borehole, expected to progress more than 1800ft into the kitchen area sometime on late Wednesday or Thursday local time, according to various media reports. Crews were delayed Monday because of inclement weather.

US Mine Safety and Health Administration chief Richard Stickler met with Utah state legislators this week, in part to provide an update on efforts to find the six miners.

Regarding the camera that officials and families hope will provide some insight into conditions and the workers' location, Stickler said: "We're encouraged. We think it could work."

However, he was also realistic when speaking to the state lawmakers. "There's a possibility that we may not be able to remove the miners from the mine," he said.

Efforts to view underground conditions will be temporarily idled while the seventh vertical borehole is drilled, multiple media outlets said. Once that has been completed, the device will be dropped into that hole.

"[The] other holes have been there awhile, and the mountain is moving," MSHA district manager Jack Kuzar told reporters.

"That's why we decided to wait until this seventh hole is completed."

An anxious group of family members, meanwhile, are holding up as well as can be expected," according to attorney Edward Havas in an interview with the Deseret News.

"The family was looking for information, and they didn't get it today," he said.

"Our people aren't unrealistic; they know the score. But as long as they can hold on, they have hope."

Havas added that they will continue to hold out hope and don't want the search to halt until every possible road has been taken to find the six.

"If every avenue has been explored and this is a dead-end, they will accept that, but not until then. They can't be angry that the best efforts are being thwarted by something beyond their control," he said.

The paper also said Wednesday afternoon that coal shipments have resumed from Crandall Canyon, as an estimated 65,000 tons of stockpile coal had accumulated prior to the August 6 incident.

It would continue to leave the site as customers' orders come in, Utah American's Bruce Hill told the outlet. The only activity occurring underground, he added, is equipment removal from areas considered to be safe.

UMWA applies for, is denied, family representation

While representatives of the nation's largest industry union, the United Mine Workers of America, have contributed statements throughout the ordeal at Crandall Canyon and have kept union members and the public up to date in its own public statements, the operation in Huntington is non-union.

However, UMWA was approached by a group of Crandall Canyon miners, and late last week the union said it had filed documentation with MSHA to designate a representative for the upcoming investigation of the incident.

"Miners and their families want to make sure that the whole truth about the events leading up to and following the accident and rescue is revealed, and they firmly believe that the UMWA will make sure that it is," said president Cecil Roberts.

"We will do all that we can to be worthy of their trust."

According to federal regulations, representation is allowed if more than two workers from an operation delegate the UMWA to stand for them on issues regarding safety. Roberts noted that there is "no further agenda" than that.

"We intend to be an objective participant in any upcoming investigations in order to help prevent the recurrence of this tragedy at any other mine in the United States, and to be a voice for the miners and their families," he said.

That push for representation, however, met an end Tuesday, prompting a statement from the UMWA that called the decision a "travesty".

"[Monday], the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration denied the UMWA's petition to be a miners' representative in the Crandall Canyon disaster investigation," Roberts said.

"This is a travesty that will have the effect of silencing the voices of the families of those still missing in the mine as this investigation moves forward."

He noted that the decision by federal officials means that no "independent voice" will be included in its investigation of the events at Crandall Canyon.

"This outrageous action only confirms the rationale for our previous call for an independent, bi-partisan investigation of this disaster by Congress," Roberts said.

"By denying the families any participation in this investigation, MSHA is ensuring that it will be investigating itself in this tragedy, and American coal miners deserve better than that."

The union now is asking Congress to step in to remedy the problem.

"These families should have the right to be full participants in this investigation, and they should be able to designate whoever they want to be their representatives," Roberts said.

He added that there are questions stemming from the incident that the miners' loved ones have "that demand answers" from officials.

"Why was the mining plan at Crandall Canyon submitted by Murray Energy when the previous owners of that mine declined to mine the same way, saying there was a problem with protection of personnel?" he said.

"Why did MSHA approve it? We call on Congress to get those answers, because if it doesn't, no one else will be able to now."