The 41^st Annual West Virginia Coal Association Mining Symposium will be featured on this month’s episode of The Coal Seam television show. The Coal Seam is hosted by WVCA Senior Vice President Chris Hamilton and is shown on local public access channels across the state including Channel 17 on Suddenlink, as well as statewide on the Library Television Network.

This month’s show features interviews with Murray Energy’s CEO and Founder Bob Murray as well as X-Coal’s CEO Ernie Thrasher, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor Joe Main and West Virginia Attorney General Pat Morrisey, as well as an inside look at the Symposium itself, which attracted hundreds of people across the three-day event – an event which has become one of the major events on the annual trade show circuit.

William E. “Bill” Chambers has joined the Steptoe & Johnson law firm as a Senior Environmental Consultant and will work from the Charleston office.

Matthew Brafford, son of Coal River Energy’s Dave Brafford and wife Debbie, has accepted University of Oklahoma offer to join their Track & Field team.  Congratulations Matt!

Murray Energy Corp. with Michael Carey as its representative and Robert Murray as their alternate has joined the general membership of WVCA, along with New Trinity Coal Inc. with Steve Tweedy as it representative.

New Associate Members who have been approved for membership include Nalco, an Ecolab Company with Danny Bess as their representative and Norris Screen & Manufacturing, LLC with Tim Lilly, President and Danny Elliott, Director of Sales.

Welcome to all of the new members and we look forward to working with you in the coming months and years.

Forty-two West Virginia mining operations were recognized by the industry for their safety efforts in 2013 at Thursday’s Mountaineer Guardian Awards luncheon, with Phoenix Coal-Mac’s Holden 22 Surface Mine in Logan County taking the Bart B. Lay Milestones in Safety Award and Rockspring Development’s Camp Creek No. 1 in Wayne County and Mingo-Logan’s Mountaineer II mine in Logan County sharing the Eustace E. Frederick Milestones in Safety Award.

 

Murray, Thrasher, Manchin, Morrisey, Headline the Event

While closing out the Association’s 2014 three-day Annual Mining Symposium, WVCA Chairman, Jim Laurita, deemed the event a success.  Recognizing and thanking the 58 speakers, the vendors and associate members who proudly displayed their products, luncheon sponsors and the 700 mining professionals who were on hand to hear the state’s political and industry leaders talk about the state of the coal industry, Laurita observed that the individuals on hand represented all disciplines within the industry (i.e., operations, safety, technical) and the basic fabric of our industry.

In a keynote address to the Association’s 41^st Annual Symposium held January 29-31 in Charleston, Robert “Bob” Murray, the founder, president, chairman & CEO of Murray Energy Corp., talked about the threats and opportunities he sees ahead for West Virginia’s and America’s coal industry in the future.