In a statement on Thursday Consol said it had received approval from the Mine Safety and Health Administration and state agencies to resume operations.

“The dedication and collaborative efforts of mine management, federal and state agencies, contractors/vendors and our employees onsite who worked around the clock to safely extinguish the fire and seal that location in the mine are to be commended," Consol coal operations chief operating officer Jimmy Brock said.

The company said 21 seals had been examined and determined to be cured to the strength required by the approved construction plan.

All employees are undergoing safety and compliance training to update them on the changes in the mine and the ventilation plan.

"On behalf of all Consol Energy employees, we want to acknowledge and send a special thank you to all those mine rescue team members who worked safely and compliantly to get the Blacksville no 2 mine back in operation,” Brock said.

“We would not be in this position without their tireless efforts.

“They accomplished our goal of restoring the Blacksville no 2 mine back to safe operating condition in a remarkably short period of time."

Blacksville’s dayshift workers were evacuated on March 12 after smoke was discovered coming from the mine. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Both the mine and the preparation facility had been closed since that time.

According to MSHA statistics, the mine employs more than 500 workers and produces about 400,000 tons per month of coal under normal operations.

Blacksville produced about 3.2 million tons of coal last year.