Chinese mining officials visit Harlan County, Kentucky, to learn about coal-mine safety

A group of Chinese mining officials and government leaders recently completed a tour of Harlan County, Ky., to learn more about coal-mine safety and become better acquainted with the U.S. mining culture and industry. Among the stops on the tour were the Kentucky Coal Academy in Cumberland and the Portal 31 exhibition mine in Lynch, Jennifer McDaniels of the Harlan Daily Enterprise reports. In October we reported on the opening of Portal 31, a former mine entry that is is a recently opened mining museum.

"I am most surprised and most impressed," Chunian Zhong, mining company i-sunnet’s general manager, told McDaniels through an interpreter. "We have learned much today. The United States, more specifically here in Kentucky, is far more advanced than our country in terms of mine safety. It’s a major concern in China because of our high fatality rates in the industry. We hope this is a start of a partnership that can benefit both countries."

The visit was planned after i-sunnet officials heard of Richmond-based Mine Shield LLC's development of the United States' first modular safe-haven chamber for underground mines. The chamber, developed in response to the Mine Safety and Health Administration's new law requiring mines to provide an alternative refuge chamber, is designed to remain underground for up to 10 years. Each chamber contains a compressed-air circulating system, food, water, toilet and medical supplies, McDaniels reports, and also enacts an alert system that transmits signals to the surface, McDaniels reports.