electrician supervisor,mine foreman
Resume:
Jacky Darren Beaty
Supplement Statement
Company: L.A. Coal Company
Operator: Bill Pace
Address: Whitley Co. Kentucky
Position: Miner Helper
Type of Equipment:
2 Single head Fletcher bolt machines
1 SS Scoop low profile
1 Samataran low profile
5 one hundred horse power head drives
5 three hundred amp power supply transformers
1 1460 Power supply transformer for the working face area
4 Long air dox bridges
Type of Mines:
None - Slope
Conventional room and pillar section
60-foot centers with the breaks turned on 60-degree angle for the bridge to be able
To maneuver around the pillars
36 inch belt with tubing structure and adjustable stands.
5 one hundred amp 3 phase starting boxes at each head drives
Coal height from 36 inches to 40 inches high
Ventilated by fan on exhaust system
I first began working in the coal mine industry in September of 1995 at L.A. Coal Company. My first job
was as a miner helper. I would make sure the miner did not run over the cable when it was backing up and
as the miner would cut, I would pull the cable back and make sure the front crawler did not get on the
cables. I was responsible for hanging curtains where the miner was cutting. After running coal for 8 hours
our crew would shut down and do dead work. Here, I gained a variety of experience doing things such as
equipment repairs, belting-up, belt splicing, building and plastering brattices, and scooping and dusting
the sections. When a belt move was done I was responsible for leveling the long john using a railroad jack
and crib blocks. My crew was also responsible for moving the power. We would pull the power center up
one break, move both scoop chargers up and run the new water lines. Both shifts ran about 600 feet every
shift so we would usually do at least one belt move a day and sometimes two. I was also part of the dust
crew every night. One man would load the duster, one man would dust with the hose, and while a third
man would operate the scoop. Each of us would rotate positions nightly, thus allowing me to learn all
three positions. After I got my permanent card I decided to go to Tennessee Coal.
Company: Tennessee Coal
Operator: Bill Pace
Address: Lake City, Tennessee
Position: Dolly Man, Crawler Operator and Out by Worker
Type of Equipment:
Three 1415 Joy miners
Two SS 488 scoops
Two Joy 21 shuttle cars
Four Long Air Dox bridges
Two Fletcher double head finger boards bolt machines
Four one hundred horse power head drivers
One small Cricket rail runner
One closed in full size battery powered rail runner
One single head Fletcher bolt machine
Type of Mines:
Under ground horizontal drift mine
Conventional room and pillar method of mining
Seventy foot centers with breaks turned on a 45 degree angle to allow the bridges to maneuver around the
pillars
Thirty-sin inch belts and conventional rope structure
Coal height from 8 to 9 feet after falling out
Five and six feet conventional resin bolt and 8 foot chuck bolt as deemed necessary by conditions
Four foot center bolt plan
Four foot center trust bolting
Ventilated by fan exhaust
Two one hundred amp scoop chargers
20 foot cutting plan
Seven headings at face
One-half mile to face
At Tennessee Coal I did numerous jobs. Sometimes I would be out by the face working on rock falls. We
had many rock falls here. I would put up cross collars and startle props. We set timbers and cribs in
numerous of places. Some days I would do belt work, making sure all the belts were working and
shoveling the belts where needed. We spent many hours jacking broken belts back together. The last
couple of months I was a Tennessee Coal they moved me to the face as a dolly man. I was responsible for
shoveling both sides of the Long John and making sure the crawlers never run over the cables while
backing up. In addition, I was responsible for making sure the structure was spread out on days we would
belt up. This is also where I began learning to operate a crawler by relieving the crawler men for lunch.
Tennessee Coal was the most dangerous job I have had in my career as a coal miner. The top was always
falling, the bottom was always heaving and we had a lot of methane gas. Due to these conditions we were
unable to run much coal. I was only at Tennessee Coal for 6 months when they decided it was no longer
feasible to keep it open. So they closed down and I went back to L.A. Coal.
Company: L.A. Coal
Operator: Bill Pace
Address: Whitley Co. Kentucky
Position: Crawler Operator and Miner Helper
Type of Equipment:
500 Samataran Miner
2 Single head Fletcher bolt machines
1 SS Samataran low profile scoop
5 one hundred horse power head drives
5 three hundred amp power supply transformers
1 1460 power supply transformer for the working face area
4 Long Air Dox bridges
1 battery powered rail runner for man trip
2 one hundred amp scoop charger
Type of Mines:
Underground horizontal drift mine
Conventional room and pillar section
Sixty foot centers with the breaks turned on a 45 degree angle to allow the bridges to maneuver around
the pillars
Thirty-six inch belt with tubing structure and adjustable stands
5 one hundred amp 3 phase starting boxes at each head drive
Coal height from 36 inches to 40 inches high
Ventilated by fan on exhaust system
40 foot cutting pan
7 heading at the face
1 mile to face
I started back at L.A. Coal as a crawler operator on a Long Air Dox Bridge System. As a crawler operator
I was responsible for maneuvering my bridge along roadways and around corners to the miner. I learned
it took great skill, teamwork, and communication to do this with precision, thus allowing the other three
crawler men to maneuver their bridges accurately. We would run coal for 8 hours and do dead work until
all jobs were completed. This is where I first began learning the job of mechanic in detail. I would assist
the mechanic in changing tracks, and fixing broken converter chains. In addition, I would assist in
restocking 300 amp distribution boxes, trouble shooting control cables, and checking for single phase and
grounded cables. I also performed jobs like building brattices, belting up, shoveling belts, changing top
and bottom rollers, and changing bad and worn belts. I would take the scoop and get structure for the belt
set ups out of the old section and then we would build deals for these sections. I worked at L.A. Coal
approximately two and a half years until the mine was mined out., and they closed the mine.
Company: Pace Coal
Operator: Bill Pace
Address: St. Paul, Virginia
Position: Ram Car Operator and Repair Man
Type of Equipment:
4 Long Air Dox 12 ton ram cars
2 14/15 Joy Miners
4 double head Fletcher bolt machines
3 488 SS scoops
1 diesel Gator rubber tired four-by-four man trip
4 one hundred horse power head drivers
1 one hundred and fifty horse power head drive
5 one hundred amp 3 phase starting boxes at each head drive
4 three hundred amp power supply transformers
2 1460 power supply transformer for the working face area
1 995 power supply splitter
2 one hundred amp scoop chargers
4 one hundred amp Ram car chargers
Type of Mines:
Underground horizontal drift mine
Conventional room and pillar section
Sixty foot centers with the breaks turned on a 90 degree angle
Four foot centers with five foot conventional resin bolts
Straps every row in belt line
Two sections with main air split by overcast and permanent stopping’s
Coal height from 8 to 12 feet high
Forty-two inch belt with conventional rope structure
Ventilated by fan on exhaust system
Twenty-five foot cutting plan
Seven headings at face
Approximately 60 breaks to face
I began working at Pace Coal as a Ram Car operator on second shift. As a Ram car operator I was
responsible for the transfer of coal from the miner to the feeder. It was my personal goal to increase the
number of trips I made each day. The section I was in had seven headings with an air split going to two
sections of the mine. Pace Coal is where I first began learning to Bolt. Anytime I was down I would ask
one of the bolt men to let me take over for him.
In addition, I would stay back on the third shift 90% of the time and help the mechanic. We would change
head motors on head drives, set 300 amp boxes and change transformers in the sub stations. We would
work on the smoke roller belt and make sure the fire deluge system was working correctly. On the face
we changed the firing package in the Joy miner, the foot shaft and pods, the digger arms, and the
conveyor chain. I would participate in building brattices and seals and if my car was out of service for
some reason, I would hang curtains so the section would have efficient air flow. I was willing to do
whatever job needed to be done. I always felt the more I knew the more valuable I would be.
Unfortunately the mine in St. Paul, Virginia was trying to vote a union in and the company shut their
doors for good.
Company: Cumberland Valley Coal
Operator: Stanley Ditty
Address: Middlesboro, Kentucky
Position: Bolt Machine Operator
Type of Equipment:
3 214 Joy shuttle cars
2 14/15 Joy miners
4 488 SS scoops
4 double head Lanorris bolt machines
1 Long Air Dox rail runner
6 one hundred horse power head drives
6 one hundred amp starting boxes for the head drives
5 three hundred amp power supply transformers for working face areas
2 Stamler feeders
2 one hundred amp scoop chargers
Type of Mines:
Underground horizontal drift mine
Conventional room and pillar section
Sixty foot centers with the breaks turned on a 90 degree angle
Four foot centers with five foot conventional resin bolts
Intersections with ten foot rope bolts
Thirty-six inch belts with rope structure
Coal height from 50 to 60 inches
2 one hundred amp scoop chargers
Thirty-two foot cutting plan
162 breaks to the face
Five heading at the face
I then began to work at Cumberland Valley Coal as a ventilation technician or “curtain man”. I was under
the agree to hold this job until a bolt mechanic job came open. As a ventilation technician, I was to make
sure the air was efficient to the face at all times. I worked in a shuttle car section where they ran Jay 21
shuttle cars so I had to vent the air on the intake side of the headings on 4 and 5 and on the return side in
the 3, 2, and 1. We were supposed to have no less than 6,000 linear feet behind the curtains and I would
generally have 14 to 15,000 linear feet I would weigh all of my block curtains down with muck all the
way back to the brattices. It did not usually take me long to do this. When I finished I would help the
scoop man do his job. I would usually hand dust the ribs and top while he was scooping. Our face boss
wanted us to have 65% or more dust on the ribs and top.
While working at Cumberland Valley Coal I spent a lot of time with the face boss trying to learn as many
things as possible. I learned how to run center lines being sure to keep them straight by sighting them in
with sight rods and to turn the breaks on 90 degree turns. I learned that there should be no less than 9,000
linear feet of air in the last open break, and that the curtains should be no less than twenty feet from the
face when there is not a miner cutting in it. When the miner is in operation there should be a curtain up to
the miner. I learned many things in this position and this is when I decided I wanted to expand my career
into the management of coal mining. To do this I realized I needed to learn even more.
It was a short time after this I moved to the bolt machine. My partner and I bolted on a double head
Lanorris. It was an antique machine, but very dependable. We would put up five bolts no more than four
feet wide. The breaks and heading was in the plan for no more than 20 feet wide with a 4 foot shear. At
times we had kettle bottoms and hill seams occur. Occasionally slips would fall out. If the kettle bottoms
were 12 inches wide or wider we would channel strap them, otherwise we would use a light weight strap.
It was in the plan to strap every row of the belt line. We would also drill a test hole in every last row and
in every intersection. We typically used a 5 foot resin bolt. If we hit many cracks we would use 10 foot
rope bolts. We would rope every intersection in 2, 3, and 4 headings.
We had one rock fall on the track which was in the intake airway of 4. It did not cause any problem with
air flow because we simply routed air into the 5 roadway around the fall back into the 4, until we could
clean the fall up. The fall was about 15 feet height. The fallen rock had to be sloped and bolted to allow
our ATRS baskets to reach and fit firmly against the tops. It took us a couple of days to clean the fall, but
coal production was never interrupted. I left Cumberland Valley Coal because the opportunity arose for a
better job with higher pay and additional benefits.
Company: R.B. Coal
Operator: Wayne Bennett
Address: Harlan, Kentucky
Position: Foreman and Electrician
Type of Equipment:
Eight Long Air Dox crawlers
Two 14/15 Joy miners
One five hundred Einco miners
Four double head Fletcher joy stick bolt machines
Two 488 SS scoops
One Samataran scoop
Three battery powered rail runners
One Mac rubber tired man-trip
One battery powered three wheeler man-trip
Type of Mines:
Underground inclined slope mine
Conventional room and pillar section with seven headings
Sixty foot centers with breaks turned on a 90 degree angle
Two sections with air split with overcast and permanent stopping’s
One 955 power supply splitter
Seven one hundred horse power head drives
Six one hundred amp starting boxes for the head drives
Two 1460 power supply transformers at the working faces
Thirty-six inch belt with conventional tubing structure and adjustable stands
Three one hundred amp scoop chargers
Robbing plan of splitting the pillars after cutting the advancing section into old works to create a bleeder
system
2 mile to the face
Forty foot cutting plan
Two one hundred amp scoop chargers
Seven headings at the face
I then went to R.B. Coal or better known as Manalapan Coal. I hired in as a bolt machine operator on
second shift. It was during my stay at Manalapan Coal that I received my Foreman, Electrical, and Shot
Fire Cards. Since my shift also did all the dead-work to get ready for dayshift to run coal we would all
have to do many jobs. Besides bolting. I would do belt set ups, move power, do maintenance work,
restock the high lines, and anything else I was asked to do.
After about four months I was moved to dayshift as a float-man. A lot of the time I ran the SS scoop. As a
scoop operator it seemed I had a million jobs. I was responsible for building intake and return brattices. I
kept the structure and belt ready for second shift to belt up. I had to make sure the return was dusted at
least once a week and the face was scooped when needed. I would also fill in for the bolt men and at this
mine is where I was first given the opportunity to boss when one of our dayshift bosses would miss.
As a boss I was responsible for doing a methane gas check every twenty minutes. I would go from
heading to heading with a methane monitor doing methane and oxygen test. At the same time I was
checking to see that the bolts were placed at the correct distance apart, checking the top for any hill
seams, slips, or cracks. I would also check for any loose slate or down rock. When bossing I was
responsible for thirteen men.
After about six months I was moved back to full time bolt man on the day shift. As a bolt man my partner
and I ran a double head Fletcher. This was a Cadillac compared to the old Lanais machine I had bolted on
previously. The ATRS system was a lot safer, and the Fletcher bolt machine as a whole, was more
efficient and secure. You could put up five bolts in a row without ever backing the bolt machine up or
pulling it forward. This machine had a T-Bar for support plus you and a canopy that was directly over
your head. I think every company should be required to have these safety features on a bolt machine. My
partner and I would usually drive a panel about fifty-two breaks long. We turned breaks at an angle 60
feet centers with a 40 foot pillar left in between. Bridges could maneuver in a safe and efficient way. We
would drive the section until we punched through into the return, which would give us complete
ventilation. Then we would back up about three breaks and start robbing back out.
I was still given the opportunity to boss about once a week or once every two weeks. Sometimes I would
come in at four in the morning, two hours before dayshift, and do pre-shift inspection. I would check the
roadways, tracks, and any of the room necks that were 20 feet or deeper on the intake. I would also check
for any down rock or loose strata that might be a danger for safe travel of the men. I would fire boss both
section. Also on my pre-shift run I would check the man doors and brattices to make sure the doors are
closed and there is not any brattices busted out due to a falling top or heaving of the bottom. The 4 mines
which I worked was set up where the air was split at the cross entry. They split the air by using overcast
that lead the air back to the return. I had to make sure that there was no obstructions in the air ways at all.
Sometimes it would require adjusting the regulator at the end of the working section to maintain adequate
air. I would check all distribution boxes and splitters for gas and bad roof conditions. I would check head
runs for methane and oxygen and make sure the guards were up around the head drives. I would check the
top around the immediate area of the head drive for any loose or dangerous material. The company had
boards in many locations that had to be signed and dated to show that section had been fired bossed. I was
usually the top signature on the board at the face.
One time while working as a bolt man, I was on the section closet to the main return. This mine had been
there for years and everything on this side had been robbed out except for three panels. While robbing out
one of the panels we encountered some bad conditions. We were under 1,000 feet of mountain coverage.
We were pulling pillars at a normal rate and the top started thumping and bumping a lot. Our face boss
decided it was time to pull back two breaks. Some of us tried to talk out of it because it had not fell in the
last four or five breaks we had robbed. He decided it was best to pull back and things did settle down for a
day. I was setting timbers at this time. I would wait for the miner to cut and I would set either breaker
timbers or wing timbers. This day the top started booming loud at regular interval. We were in the 2 entry
and the miner was cutting back to the right rib, I was sitting on a pile of timber waiting for the miner to
get done when we heard boom, boom, boom, and one last final explosion. The pile of timbers and I was
thrown forward by the blast. I was lying on the bottom face first. I did not know where my hard hat was
and I could neither see or hear anything. Suddenly, I heard footsteps crossing the bridge and I decided this
was the way to go since I wasn’t sure if it was going to blow out anymore. I went over the bridge into the
break. Thank God no one was seriously injured at this time. About a week later they had another bump
and one of the crawler men was hurt pretty bad. I was not there that day because I was filling in for a boss
on another section. We pulled that section back about ten breaks. I fill all of this could have been
prevented if it would have been robbed enough to let the top fall and let the pressure off instead of ridding
back on us. It was not long after that I took a foreman position on second shift doing dead work.
On the dead work crew I was responsible for five men, two bolt men, one scoop man, one mechanic and
one greaser. I was responsible for their safety and well being on the job. I am strict on safety, I never
cared for a company to make a man operate an unsafe piece of equipment. Anytime I had a worker come
to me with a problem on any of the equipment I would promptly check it out or take it our of service. To
me, there is not one chunk of coal worth a man’s life.
As a dead work boss, I would double check if I had a bolt machine going into a new place. I would also
check my test holes at least twice a night to make sure that the top had not shifted anywhere to cause
concern. I am also a certified electrician so I would make sure that nothing we jumped out on the power
center such as a miner or crawler. The guys on day shift had a bad habit of jumping the monitor out on the
power center. I reported this to the superintendent a couple of times but no one ever owned up to it. I
never let my mechanic jump anything out. We would always kill power before moving it. If something
was not electrically right I would take it out of service until it was fixed. My overall job was to make sure
dayshift was ready to run coal. I was to make sure they were belted up structure put in section, bolted,
scooped, dusted, all curtains hung, and all equipment greased and serviced. We would also make any
splices that needed to be made. At the end of each shift I would pre-shift my way out. I worked at
Manalapan for three and half years, before I decided I wanted to go to a coal run full time and decided to
change jobs.
Company: Cumberland Valley Coal
Operator: Stanley Ditty
Address: Harlan, Kentucky
Position: Foreman and Electrician
Type of Equipment:
Three 24 Joy shuttle cars
One 14/15 Joy miner
Four 488 SS scoops
Four double head Lanorris bolt machines
One Long Air Dox rail runner
Six 100 horse power head drives
Six 100 amp starting boxes for the head drives
Five 300 amp power supply transformer for working face areas
Two Long Air Dox feeders
Two 100 amp scoop chargers
Type of Mines:
Underground horizontal drift mine
Conventional room and pillar section
Sixty foot centers with the breaks turned on a 90 degree angle
Four foot centers with five foot conventional resin bolts
Intersections with 10 foot rope structure
Thirty six inch belts with rope structure
Coal height from 50 to 60 inches.
62 breaks to face
Two 100 amp scoop chargers
Five heading at face
32 cutting plan
At this time I moved to Cumberland Valley Coal as face boss on a pillar section with a 14 Joy miner, 2
Joy 10 shuttle cars, and 2 Lanorris bolt machine. I was responsible for thirteen men, two belt men with
two car drivers, four bolt men, one curtain man, two miner men, one mechanic and one scoop man. My
duties include methane gas checks every twenty minutes and a methane gas check at least three times a
night in the return. I try to make sure at least 20 bolts are checked every night for correct tightness. A lot
of the time I will hang the curtains. I try to help my men as much as possible, I will run my pre-shift on
the face, bolt boxes, and distribution boxes from 8 to 9:00 p.m. each night.
I faced a lot of problems each night. I make a lot of decisions on when to take equipment out of service to
be reported. Whether a crack is minor or serious enough to warrant bolting. If the face is falling at a 32
foot cut I will usually have my miner man to shorten the cut bracket a 20 foot cut. We went through a
hollow with a lot of water and we had a coal seem about three inches thick at about five and one-half feet.
We were using five foot bolts. I also had some 8 foot bolts and some 10 foot rope bolts brought in for the
intersections until we got through the hollow. As soon as we got though the hollow the coal seam on the
bottom dropped down to about 8 inches and the middle man rock went up to about 32 inches. I decided it
would be more feasible to get on top of the middle man and just cut the top seam of coal, which was
about 24 inches. That dropped our overall height to about 50 inches instead of 84 inches. This worked
well because we mined the coal at 50 inches for about thirty breaks. Every ten breaks the day shift
supervisor would drill the bottom to see if the coal was picking up. The first 10 breaks the rock was about
52 inches and the coal about 8 inches. At 20 breaks the rock dropped to 40 inches and the coal picked up
to 10 inches. At 30 breaks the rock dropped to about 26 inches and the coal picked up to 24 inches. At
this point we made the decision to get back under the middle man and cut the bottom seam.
While at Cumberland Valley Coal rock fall occurred at one of the other mines. I was asked to come in on
my days off as a supervisor for one of the clean up teams. The rock fall was 125 feet long and between 20
- 25 feet high. Management had wanted us to clean this up with a couple of scoops. The first night we
built six cribs along the ribs for the safety of the scoop men. This prevented the top that had not fell from
causing farther danger. We tried scooping with very little success. We were only able to move about 20
feet of rock this first night. There was a brow where the rock had stopped falling, but it was safe because
we had cribbed it up. The second night the scoop could no longer reach without going out from under the
crib. At this point I decided it was not safe for my scoop man to scoop the rock. I informed my supervisor
that I would not let my scoop man operate out from under the cribbed area and that the top was to high to
bolt. I told them I would have to cross collar the area floor and crib the top before I could get a scoop
back in a safe position to operate. Management was not happy but I told me to do whatever I needed to
do. About four hours later David Howard, the safety director came in and ask me what I felt needed to be
done. I told him I felt we needed a miner to cut and load the rock out. Mr. Howard passed this on to the
owner and within two hours we had a miner to work the fall with. This was my last night on the fall
because I had to go back to my regular job. It took them five more days to clean the fall up. I was glad I
spoke up though because my conscious could not stand knowing I got someone hurt because of my
negligence or greed to please the company.
There was a report of men smoking on the section. I always do a weekly smoke search and have never
found anything. So I decided to mimic a blitz. I secretly had the second shift superintendent come in to
assist me. We got the men in their normal working area and searched them one at a time. We held the
men there until the complete mine had been searched so no one could inform anyone else what was
happening. Unfortunately we found three men with cigarettes and lighters. They were all dismissed on the
spot. I did not like to dismiss anyone from their job, but they were putting the lives of many men in
danger. I run a strict section and I follow the law to the best of my knowledge. I have found short cuts
never pay off in the footage of a coal run. I feel the more I run my section by the law the easier it will be
for me to do my job of insuring everyone’s safety.
My main job at Cumberland Valley Coal is to make sure 13 men worked in a safe environment and
conditions while on coal production. I have found that sometimes to insure the safety of your men, you
must also do jobs you do not like to do.
Company: Ten Coal(Stumps)
Operator: Darris Stump
Address: (Valley Creek), Clearfield, Tennessee
Position: Electrician
Type of Equipment:
Two 1415 Joy miners
One 1212 Joy miner
One 1210 Joy miner
Two twin head Fletcher bolt machines
Six 10 Joy shuttle cars
Two 7200 power center face boxes
Four SS battery powered scoops
Six 300 power box transformers
One Kawasaki coal loader
I started at Ten Coal Mining as a mechanic and electrician on third shift. Maintenance crew, that
consisted of Mike Daniels, myself, and occasionally we had a greaser. Mike and I were in charge of
fixing what ever, underground and outside that would need to be fixed. It would range from replacing a
pump or tire on a twin head Fletcher bolt machine, to replacing a tantrum roller on a 1 belt drive. The
repairmen on the first and second shift would usually patch a piece of equipment just long enough to were
third shift could fix it correctly. I really gained a lot of knowledge working along with a veteran mechanic
as Mike.
My boss, head of maintenance, was Mike Runion. Mike was an ace electrician. I leaned a lot from him
also. I worked on SS scoops, 1415 Joy miners, 7200 volt power distribution boxes, 300 distribution
boxes, head drives, 10 Joy shuttle cars, 21 Joy shuttle cars,
stampler feeders, 100 horse power motors, 150 horse power motors, diesel gator man trips, 7200 volt
splitter boxes, and sometimes even the Kawasaki coal loader outside.
I built a lot of lids and it was my responsibilities to electrically inspect and record on law books the 7200
volt substation outside. I done a lot of work electrical and mechanical, it would take twenty pages or more
to go into detail about everything I did.
After a couple of years at Stumps, they started hitting solid sand stone every where that we would drive a
panel. I could tell the end was getting near for our jobs and that is when I was offered a position with
American High-Wall as an electrician and foreman.
Company: American
Contact this candidate