A mine employee discovered late last month fire escaping from a seal which had been built to deprive a fire which originally ignited in February 2003. The sealed areas are about four to five miles from the area being mined now.

Mine officials shut off the mine's electricity, sprayed water through the gaps in the seal and used boreholes established during last year's firefighting efforts to pump nitrogen into the area to displace the oxygen and make the atmosphere inert to avoid combustion or a thermal event. Electricity was restored about a week later.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration have now lifted its ban on mining operations after repairs were made to the seal. New seals were also built at key points, and nitrogen has been pumped into the original fire area to drive out any oxygen, Consol spokesperson Tom Hoffman told Associated Press.

"We are going to continue to pump nitrogen at least for this week," he said.

The United Mine Workers request for continuous monitoring of gases at the old fire site and a visual inspection of the seal line at least every two hours has also gone ahead.