The Oklahoma producer completed a series of safety inspections and reviews, and it was determined by the US Mine Safety and Health Administration, the state’s Office of Mine Safety and Licensing and the employees of ARLP subsidiary Webster County Coal that the mine could restart safely.

Operations recommenced on Tuesday. They had been idled since the evening of April 28, when a roof fall took the lives of miners Justin Travis and Michael Carter.

"Our internal investigation to date indicates that the roof fall was an unpredictable accident involving unforeseeable geological conditions," Webster County Coal executive vice president Charlie Wesley said.

"We will continue to cooperate fully with the MSHA and OMSL as they complete their investigations."

Officials expressed condolences to the families of the victims, noting that each company worker had felt the impact.

"As we mourn the loss of these two brave men, we remain proud of the Dotiki miners and our safety record,” Wesley said.

“This tragic accident is the only event of its kind in our forty-four years of operating at Dotiki. Our lost-time-injury rate for the past five years is 48 per cent below the industry average."

Officials also commented on the mine’s compliance record.

"It is unfortunate that some have misunderstood citation statistics, ignoring varying mine sizes and the regulatory structure under which we operate,” he said.

“Since the pure number of citations greatly depends on the size of the mine, a much more relevant measure is the number of citations per inspection day.”

In addition to a citation rate per inspection day that is 43% below the national average, Wesley said no single unwarrantable failure citations were received in 2009 or 2010 and, up until the incident late last month, the mine had not been closed once by state or federal inspectors.

"Our culture of safety is strong … we have families that have sent three generations to work in the Dotiki mine. I know these miners care, they represent themselves and safety is their top priority."

The 400-worker Dotiki mine is Kentucky’s largest coal operation.