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The Wyoming County mine was closed after an explosion occurred on September 1. This was followed less than two weeks later by a second explosion in the gob area.
About a dozen workers were repairing damage from the Labor Day explosion when the second blast took place, Associated Press reported. All the miners were safely evacuated from the mine without incident.
PinnOak will use the jet engine to inject large volumes of inert gas into the mine in an effort to speed the reopening of the longwall.
Associated Press said the jet engine was similar to the GAG jet engine inertisation system flown over with a dozen Queensland Mines Rescue Service personnel and trained miners to Consol’s Loveridge mine in March this year.
The jet engine technology makes the underground mine atmosphere inert by eliminating oxygen through a release of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor into the mine. It has been used to fight mine fires and create inert mine atmospheres in Australia since 1999 and was first used in the United States during the Loveridge fire.
