Beaver Gap operations, part of the Consol’s Mill Creek Mining Complex near Deane, Kentucky, produces coal from the Hazard 4 Seam and the Elkhorn 3 Seam at several underground and surface mines.

Continuous mining machines are used at the underground mines, and mining at the surface mines is done with front-end loaders and trucks. Nearly 3.7 million tons of coal was mined from the various operations at Mill Creek in 2003.

"We are extremely proud of the safety accomplishment of this group of 65 miners who completed 156,728 hours with 'zero' reportable accidents. They met the challenges of working in a 42-inch coal seam, while they safely produced 642,892 clean tons of coal," said coal operations development senior vice president Ronald Stovash, who will accept the award on behalf of the operation.

The award, sponsored jointly by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Mining Association, will be presented at the 2004 MINExpo International in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the end of September.

Herbert Hoover established the Sentinels of Safety awards program in 1925, making this the 78th consecutive year that mining companies have been recognized for achieving the greatest number of employee work-hours without an injury.