TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – US coal miner Alpha Natural Resources on Monday announced that the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia (USAO SDWV) had closed the non-prosecution agreement (NPA) the company entered into on December 6, 2011.

On April 5, 2010, an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine (UBB), operated by a subsidiary of Massey Energy, claimed the lives of 29 miners. Alpha Natural Resources acquired Massey Energy more than a year later, in June 2011, and six months later entered into the agreement with the USAO SDWV regarding its investigation into the accident.

"We are pleased that the US Attorney determined that Alpha has met or exceeded its obligations under the NPA. Throughout this process, we remained committed to responsibly addressing the UBB tragedy and resolving Massey's liabilities, while implementing safety measures, training and research that will make our industry safer for miners not just today, but well into the future,” Alpha executive VP and general counsel Vaughn Groves said.

He added that Alpha appreciated the trust that US Attorney Booth Goodwin and his office had in the company to enter into the NPA, saying he believed that the substantial safety achievements that Alpha had made these past two years had justified that trust.

Alpha had agreed to pay $1.5-million to each of the families of 29 miners killed in the explosion..

The payments - part of a $209-million settlement of civil and criminal charges stemming from the April 5, 2010 accident - included a fine of $10.8-million, the biggest ever imposed by US federal mine regulators

According to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, a coal dust explosion that started when methane gas was ignited caused the blast. The agency issued 12 citations for violations of the Mine Act that contributed to the explosion, and another 357 separate violations.

It also said "unlawful policies and practices implemented by Massey were the root cause of this tragedy”.

Among the steps Alpha had taken to prevent a similar accident from taking place again, counted building a state-of-the-art ‘Running Right’ leadership academy that had already seen more than 10 000 employees pass through its doors for instruction; fully funding a first-of-its-kind $48-million foundation dedicated to improving mining safety and health through research, which had recently funded its first 16 research projects; and working with Matrix Design Group to create an award-winning atmospheric monitoring sensor that improves detection of potentially harmful developments in ventilation. Sensors were now installed in all underground working sections.

The company had also succeeded in reducing the total reportable incident rate across the organisation by 31%; provided restitution and resolved matters with the families of deceased miners; and implemented Running Right at all properties, giving a greater voice to all employees. To date, thousands have participated in Performance Group and Employee Involvement Group meetings.

During the two-year span of the NPA, Alpha committed to and then conducted one of the most significant training missions in the history of the US coal industry, delivering the equivalent of 57 years of training hours to miners and support staff.

Every employee in the organisation was trained on Running Right and how to conduct safety observations. Since the NPA agreement was signed, more than 1.7-million safety observations had been submitted companywide.

Importantly, as safety observations had trended upward, accident rates had trended down. Last year, Alpha affiliates experienced their lowest on-the-job injury rate in company history.