Situation Continues to Improve at Buchanan Mine
July 20 2007 - 11:46AM
PR Newswire (US)
PITTSBURGH, July 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Air monitoring at the
Buchanan Mine near Mavisdale, Virginia, continues to show an
overall improvement in the underground mine atmosphere. There are
now 62 established monitoring stations that are measuring gas
levels in the mine. Overall levels of carbon monoxide continue to
decline, indicating that there is no active combustion in the mine.
Engineers believe that carbon monoxide in the mine is now being
swept from the mine by the active ventilation flow. In addition,
cameras inserted in several bore holes showed no smoke or signs of
combustion in the mine and temperature readings from boreholes
indicate the mine temperatures are at ambient levels. The source of
the carbon monoxide has not been determined. Engineers theorize
that it may be from an ignition of a small amount of methane caused
by one of the roof falls that occurred two weeks ago. Last week,
Buchanan Mine engineers submitted plans to federal and state safety
agencies to drill additional boreholes into the mine to provide
additional monitoring points. Several more boreholes are being
drilled to provide additional monitoring stations. Inert gas is
being pumped into several of the holes as a precautionary measure.
Once all monitoring stations show acceptable levels of the gases
being monitored, and agency approval is secured, teams can re-enter
the mine. The mine continues to be ventilated and to ship coal from
above ground inventories. There are no employees underground at the
present time. Production at the mine was idled on Monday, July 9,
2007 after several roof falls in previously mined areas, damaged
some of the ventilation controls inside the mine, requiring a
general evacuation of the mine by employees. No one was injured
during the evacuation. CONSOL Energy Inc., a high-Btu bituminous
coal and coal bed methane company, is a member of the Standard
& Poor's 500 Equity Index and has annual revenues of $3.7
billion. It has 15 bituminous coal mining complexes in six states
and reports proven and probable coal reserves of 4.3 billion tons.
In addition, the company is a majority shareholder in one of the
largest U.S. producers of coalbed methane gas, CNX Gas Corporation.
CONSOL Energy was named one of America's most admired companies in
2005 by Fortune magazine. It received the U.S. Department of the
Interior's Office of Surface Mining National Award for Excellence
in Surface Mining for the company's innovative reclamation
practices in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Also in 2003, the company was
listed in Information Week magazine's "Information Week 500" list
for its information technology operations. In 2002, the company
received a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Protection
Award. Additional information about the company can be found at its
web site: http://www.consolenergy.com/. Forward-Looking Statements
Various statements in this release, including those that express a
belief, expectation, or intention, as well as those that are not
statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements (as
defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934). The
forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates
concerning the timing and success of specific projects and our
future production, revenues, income and capital spending. When we
use the words "believe," "intend," "expect," "may," "should,"
"anticipate," "could," "estimate," "plan," "predict," "project," or
their negatives, or other similar expressions, the statements which
include those words are usually forward-looking statements. When we
describe strategy that involves risks or uncertainties, we are
making forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements
in this release speak only as of the date of this release; we
disclaim any obligation to update these statements unless required
by securities law, and we caution you not to rely on them unduly.
We have based these forward-looking statements on our current
expectations and assumptions about future events. These risks,
uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to,
the following: - the disruption of rail, barge and other systems
that deliver our coal, or pipeline systems which deliver our gas; -
our inability to hire qualified people to meet replacement or
expansion needs; - the risks inherent in coal mining being subject
to unexpected disruptions, including geological conditions,
equipment failure, timing of completion of significant construction
or repair of equipment, fires, accidents and weather conditions
which could cause our results to deteriorate; - uncertainties in
estimating our economically recoverable coal and gas reserves; -
risks in exploring for and producing gas; - obtaining governmental
permits and approvals for our operations; - a loss of our
competitive position because of the competitive nature of the coal
industry and the gas industry, or a loss of our competitive
position because of overcapacity in these industries impairing our
profitability; - an extended decline in prices we receive for our
coal and gas affecting our operating results and cash flows; - a
decrease in the production of our metallurgical coal or a decrease
in the price of metallurgical coal could impact our profitability;
- the inability to produce a sufficient amount of coal to fulfill
our customers' requirements which could result in our customers
initiating claims against us; - replacing our natural gas reserves
which if not replaced will cause our gas reserves and gas
production to decline; - costs associated with perfecting title for
gas rights in some of our properties; - we need to use unproven
technologies to extract coalbed methane on some of our properties;
- location of a vast majority of our gas producing properties in
two counties in southwestern Virginia, making us vulnerable to
risks associated with having our gas production concentrated in one
area; - we do not insure against all potential operating risks; -
other persons could have ownership rights in our advanced gas
extraction techniques which could force us to cease using those
techniques or pay royalties; - reliance on customers extending
existing contracts or entering into new long-term contracts for
coal; - reliance on major customers; - our inability to collect
payments from customers if their creditworthiness declines; - coal
users switching to other fuels in order to comply with various
environmental standards related to coal combustion; - the effects
of government regulation; - the effects of mine closing,
reclamation and certain other liabilities; - the coalbeds from
which we produce methane gas frequently contain water that may
hamper production; - increased exposure to employee related
long-term liabilities; - our participation in multi-employer
pension plans may expose us to obligations beyond the obligation to
our employees; - lump sum payments made to retiring salaried
employees pursuant to our defined benefit pension plan; - the
outcome of various asbestos litigation cases; - our ability to
comply with laws or regulations requiring that we obtain surety
bonds for workers' compensation and other statutory requirements; -
the anti-takeover effects of our rights plan could prevent a change
of control; and - other factors discussed in our 2005 Form 10-K
under "Risk Factors," which is on file at the Securities and
Exchange Commission. We are including this cautionary statement in
this release to make applicable and take advantage of the safe
harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 for any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf,
of us. DATASOURCE: CONSOL Energy Inc. CONTACT: Thomas F. Hoffman,
412-831-4060 Web site: http://www.consolenergy.com/
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