But Arnulfo Velasquez, the owner of the coal mine, says he has all necessary insurance and the mine is not illegal.
The son of prosperous Republican coal-mine owners, Lamm worked his way through the University of Wisconsin-Madison, even though he didn't have to, spending summers as a lumberjack in Oregon and an ore-boat deckhand on the Great Lakes.
The Zambian government has taken over the running of a Chinese-owned coal mine after revoking its licence because of safety lapses.
"The security situation, the economic situation, the development situation in Afghanistan is a big concern for us, and you could look at this sort of as a canary and coal mine when you start seeing the numbers of Afghans moving further afield, " he said.
When local officials began breathing down their necks, the owners of Indonesia's biggest coal mine suddenly agreed to sell it at a discount of almost 40%.
Methane trapped in the workings of a former Nottinghamshire coal mine could be used to create electricity.
The price of fuel is tempting coal mine owners to dig more holes and buy more trucks to shift the dirt.
The planning application also includes proposals for the final stages of coal recovery from the mine, which is operated by Celtic Energy.
BBC: Gwenda Thomas AM raises concerns about East Pit resort plan
Several generations before, the family had sold its private coal mine in exchange for shares of the coal company.
Stover, who was head of security at the Upper Big Branch Mine (operated by Performance Coal and owned by Massey Energy), was convicted of impeding the investigation of the mine explosion that killed 29 people on April 5, 2010.
FORBES: Massey Energy Employee Guilty of Obstruction, But Where Was Management?
The company will also have full ownership of Kevin's Corner coal mine and the rail and port project connecting the three mines.
The 22-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday after stopping work at the site of UK Coal's opencast mine at The Wrekin, near Wellington.
The speed of Iceland's downfall in the week since it announced it was nationalizing Glitnir bank, the country's third largest, caught many by surprise, despite warnings it was the "canary in the coal mine" of the global credit squeeze.
The operator of the mine, Pike River Coal, said that 27 workers remained unaccounted for - 15 of its staff and 12 local contractors.
The statement said that ANZ had withdrawn funding for Whitehaven's proposed Maules Creek mine due to "reputational risks and analysis of the returns on this mine in the current climate of high volatility in the coal export market".
" Or the hard-hat-wearing, improbably gorgeous models sweating it out in a coal mine to the sound of Merle Travis' "Sixteen Tons.
One early-warning system: inserting rodents with depressed immune systems (known as "nude sentinels, " because they happen to be a hairless breed) into the general population of rodents--canaries in the coal mine, if you will.
At least 11 workers were injured in the incident at the Collum coal mine in the southern town of Sinazongwe.
Enveloped in a smog of coal dust that softens the sunlight into a hazy glow is the An Tai Bao surface coal mine.
If a mining operation goes bust, Robertson keeps the coal and most of the equipment--and leases the mine to somebody else.
It must be burned in power plants at the mouth of the mine, yet environmentalists will oppose any expansion in coal-fired lignite plants.
The collapsed coal walls were in front of us, and about 20 mine workers -- who are now rescue workers -- were on the scene.
Two more men escaped unaided from the drift mine - a mine cut into the side of a hill where the coal seam is accessed horizontally - before emergency services arrived.
It is a small drift mine - a mine cut into the side of a hill, where the coal seam is accessed by walking in.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Consol produced 0.9 million metric tons of this coal, according to its earnings report, largely from its Bailey Mine in West Finley, Pa.
The central aisle of an airliner, the back seat of a car (stale popcorn crammed into cushion cracks), a coal mine, a hospital waiting room, a long tunnel in which a hot breeze blew first in one direction and then the other.
About 100 of the mine's 650 workers are due to be redeployed by UK Coal.
Inequities of power, privilege, and income have created a canary in the toxic coal mine scenario.
Coal companies have always had to deal with the danger of gases seeping into mine shafts and killing miners.
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