MASSEY MINING PLAYING CORPORATE SHELL GAME

I become naturally suspicious when a big time player (with a list of fatalities on its plate) begins to call for MSHA to Reverse the Practice of Turning off Dust Scrubbers

-and Whoa! 'NUTHER ONE!....makes 'em look real safety conscious, doesn't it?

(Yah, yah.....I know.... this is long-winded 'corporate-speak', then below it here, long-winded mine 'techie-speak' ---but if you aren't interested stop reading now. Go back to your social networking and texting, you mannequin people with the dead eyes, seeking easy stimulus. Go read somewhere else.)


I offer this explanation for their current hue and cry over safety issues.

I say:

-perhaps the MASSEY MINING MASSCRE had nothing to do with dust scrubbers. Turning attention to this one issue might possibly be an attempt to divert scrutiny from the actual source of the explosion in the Upper Big Branch Mine.

You know.....

like a common ordinary shell game, it's, "Look here!" (while I do something shifty over there.) Like that. Because it's much more likely the source of ignition had a lot to do with this:



FRICTIONAL IGNITIONS


"Up to this point, emphasis has been solely on ventilation methods and monitoring for gas.

However, the chance of a methane ignition may be further reduced by dealing directly with the ignition source. When a continuous miner cutter bit strikes rock, abrasion from the rock grinds down the rubbing surface of the bit, producing a glowing hot metal streak on the rock surface behind the bit...the metal streak is often hot enough to ignite methane, causing a so-called frictional ignition.

At continuous miner faces, there are two approaches to lower the incidence of frictional ignitions.

The first approach concerns the bit itself—providing a regular change-out schedule to replace worn bits, providing bits with a larger carbide tip to reduce wear.

The second approach is to mount a water spray behind each bit, aiming the spray toward the location on the rock where the hot metal streak is expected. This anti-ignition back spray
quenches the hot streak, reducing its temperature and the chance of a frictional ignition.

The most important action one can take to reduce frictional ignitions is to replace bits regularly, thus avoiding the formation of wear flats on the bits.

Frictional ignition with a mining bit always involves a worn bit having a wear flat on the tip of the bit. A small wear flat forms a small hot spot which does not lead to an ignition, whereas a large wear flat forms a large hot spot that is more likely to cause an ignition. Also, mining bits consist of a steel shank with a tungsten carbide tip: the steel is more incendiary than the tungsten carbide tip, so if the tip is worn off and the steel shank exposed, the chance of an ignition is much greater.

The results of a test in which a cutter bit was used to cut a sandstone block in the presence of an ignitable methane concentration: with the tungsten carbide tip in place, no ignitions were obtained even after 200 or more cuts. With the steel shank exposed, ignitions quickly began.

With as little as 0.3-cm bit wear, fewer than 10 cuts were necessary to produce an ignition.

Anti-ignition back sprays are an effective method to reduce frictional ignitions. Bringing water to the cutter head on continuous miners has been an engineering challenge. However, in recent years, practical (if expensive) water seals for continuous miner heads have been developed.

(As a result, few "wet-head" continuous miners equipped with anti-ignition back sprays have been installed in U.S. coal mines with a history of frictional ignition problems.)"

Voila!

"EXPENSE = LESS PROFIT".

There's a scenario I can believe.

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I'm not saying this is the only explanation, but there are other possible causes that led up to this disaster --that management had a hand in when making decisions about 'profit over safety'.

Something to think about.