Patriot Coal Corp. announced that on September 8, 2010, the Federal No. 2 coal mine located in West Virginia, U.S.A. received an imminent danger order issued by MSHA relating to a methane level of just over five percent near a gob area of the longwall tailgate entry, causing the longwall to be idled. The Company expects the longwall to return to production early the week of September 13. Continuous miner sections at the Federal mine were not affected by the order and remain in operation. Patriot intends to contest the issuance of the order. No injuries resulted from the condition described in the order.
Patriot Coal reported that both the Federal and Panther longwalls operated at less than their normalized levels during the quarter. The Federal longwall experienced a rock parting in the coal seam. In addition, adverse roof conditions were encountered which had not been experienced in the parting area of previous panels. At Panther, the longwall move during the quarter included significant upgrades to components of the longwall mining equipment. In January 2009, the company announced the idling of the Black Oak mine.
The company adjusted certain future longwall panels to mitigate the impact of hard cutting and soft bottom conditions. Operations are expected to improve in November.
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