MSHA: Mine company failures caused fatal incident at violation-beset Tucker Co. mine

In a final report on the incident it released Monday, the United States Mine Safety and Health Administration found that Mettiki Coal WV LLC safety failures at its underground Mountain View Mine near the Town of Davis resulted in the incident.

Joseph “Joey� Dane Mitchell, 25, of Kingwood was a scoop operator with three years of mining experience when a scoop he was operating was struck by an out-of-control supply train, MSHA found.

MSHA says the incident occurred because Mettiki Coal WV, which is controlled by Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Alliance Resource Partners, did not:

• Followed a safeguard to ensure haulage clearance was realized when mobile equipment was in use

• Establish a policy or procedure to ensure that operators maintain control of diesel-powered equipment

• Set a procedure to ensure sanding devices on locomotives were maintained

Alliance Resource Partners did not respond to a request for comment.

Motormen tried to slow down the supply train but could not because the area rail was muddy and wet, and the train kept traveling toward the working face of the mine out of control despite a motor crew attempt to operate sanding devices to aid with braking, according to the MSHA report.

Motorman Ryan Duckworth, who operated a work area-bound locomotive leading the supply train, saw Mitchell operating his scoop and began flashing locomotive lights and blowing the horn, per the report.

Mitchell was observed turning and looking toward the supply train just before the locomotive crashed into the scoop, a collision that pushed the scoop into a corner and caused the locomotive and five of the six supply cars to derail, the report says. Another locomotive and the sixth supply car remained on the track.

Duckworth was knocked to the locomotive floor, suffering head and leg injuries, and Mitchell was found unresponsive under the first derailed supply car before being transported to the Garrett County Regional Medical Center in Oakland, Maryland, where he was pronounced dead less than three hours after the 911 call, the report states.

Report cites muddy conditions 

MSHA said its accident investigation team, along with the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training, examined the accident scene, took photographs, interviewed miners and mine management, and reviewed conditions and work practices pertaining to the accident.

Investigators found muddy conditions existed where rubber-tired mobile equipment drove over the rails and that the grade and conditions of the track impacted the locomotive operator’s ability to control the diesel locomotives and contributed to the incident.

Citing testimony, the report states that the scoop operator was on the track haulage and had not received clearance from the dispatcher before travel in the track haulage entry — a lack of compliance with a safety directive issued in 2017 requiring the operator of any piece of mobile equipment to get clearance from the dispatcher prior to travel when mobile equipment is in use at the mine.

Neither locomotive had fully functioning sanding devices due to wet conditions, reducing the ability to deliver sand, per the report, which states that the moisture content of the sand contributed to the incident.

A pre-shift examination that was conducted between three and six hours before Mitchell was killed didn’t document any violations or hazardous conditions, per the report.

Long history of safety violations at Mountain View Mine 

As of November 2025, the month of the incident, Mettiki Coal WV had been assessed 827 penalties by MSHA for safety and health violations at the Mountain View Mine since the start of 2019, resulting in levied and paid fines totaling $361,790 and $361,454, according to a Gazette-Mail analysis of MSHA records.

Of those 827 penalties, 109 were categorized by MSHA as Significant and Substantial. Four of those Significant and Substantial penalties were issued last year, including two in April for violations of standards requiring:

• Coal dust to be cleaned up and not allowed to build up in active work areas

• One ventilated escapeway to be designated as a primary escapeway with a certain ventilation pressure unless a mine ventilation plan alternative is approved

Other past Significant and Substantial penalties at the Mountain View Mine assessed to Mettiki Coal WV followed reported violations of standards that require:

• Effective insulation and sealing of permanent splices in trailing cables to exclude moisture

• Support or control to protect against hazards related to face, ribs or roof falls and coal or rock bursts

Alliance Resource Partners, Mettiki Coal's parent company, had a total revenue for 2024 of $4.89 billion, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

But Mettiki Coal on Jan. 29 issued a WARN notice stating it would end production and close permanently, with employment separations to occur on April 1 resulting in 199 layoffs to nonunion workers. The employment losses were expected to be permanent, according to the company’s notice to submitted to WorkForce West Virginia.

Named for the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988, WARN notices are designed to provide advance notice of qualified plant closings and mass layoffs to workers to allow them adequate time to seek other employment or retraining opportunities.

MSHA said in its report that corrective actions Mettiki Coal took following the incident included:

• Informing miners of requirements to get clearance from a dispatcher prior to moving mobile equipment on the track haulage

• Installing warning signs and a block light system at the beginning of all steep grades and developing procedures for their use

• Examining and repairing the sanding devices on all operating locomotives