Published: November 30, 2017 |

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A Boone County miner was killed on Tuesday at a local inactive mine site, state officials have confirmed.

Zachary Grant Harris, 28, of Foster Road, died at property owned by Blackhawk Mining. The property is the former site of the Dakota Mining Inc. No. 2 underground mine, according to information from the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training.

Samantha Smith, a spokeswoman for the agency, said that Harris died while he was trying to access a manhole at a clarifying pond. The site no longer is used to mine coal, but water pollution treatment at the operation continues, according to the company.

The incident was initially reported by local officials to have involved a man falling into a crack, or fissure, at the mine site, with an active rescue operation said to be ongoing Tuesday evening.

Gov. Jim Justice issued a news release about the “death of one of our coal miners in Boone County.” But Smith indicated in a separate email message that the incident was not “chargeable,” meaning that it wouldn’t be included in the state agency’s annual count of coal mining deaths.

She said that, while the state Department of Environmental Protection has active permits for the water treatment site, the state mine safety office has no active permits there.

The issue of how regulators determine what deaths will be counted as coal-mining fatalities has frequently been controversial in recent years.

Source: Charleston Gazette-Mail

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