The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration indicated in a report released Monday, July 27, 2026, that this is the approximate location in the Panther Eagle Mine, in Raleigh County, where a miner was killed on April 2, 2026. MSHA blamed the death on safety failures committed by the Alpha Metallurgical Resources-controlled Marfork Coal Co.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration indicated in a report released Monday, July 27, 2026, that this is the approximate location in the Panther Eagle Mine, in Raleigh County, where a miner was killed on April 2, 2026. MSHA blamed the death on safety failures committed by the Alpha Metallurgical Resources-controlled Marfork Coal Co.
Federal mine regulators have determined that safety failures attributed to a company belonging to one of the area’s most prominent mine controllers caused a fatal Raleigh County underground coal mine incident in April.
The U.S. Mine and Safety Health Administration has released a report finding safety failures caused the April 2 incident at the Alpha Metallurgical Resources-controlled Marfork Coal Company’s Panther Eagle Mine that left shuttle car operator Aaron Warrix dead.
Warrix’s death was the third in the prior eight months and fourth since the beginning of 2025 at Alpha-controlled mining facilities in West Virginia. Alpha is a Bristol, Tennessee-based metallurgical products supplier with operations in West Virginia and Virginia.
MSHA records show safety violations deemed likely to cause serious injury or illness have persisted at the Panther Eagle Mine since the April 2 incident, with recurring safety shortcomings similar to those that the agency says contributed to Warrix’s death.
Warrix, 53, of Chapmanville, Logan County, died after being struck by falling roof rock when he was installing roadside turn posts on a pillar section, according to the MSHA report. The incident occurred because Marfork Coal Company didn’t ensure that no person worked or traveled under an unsupported mine roof, follow an approved roof control plan or conduct an adequate on-shift examination, the MSHA report found.
Warrix had just finished installing turn posts around 5:05 p.m. on April 2 when rock fell from the mine roof, striking him from behind, according to the MSHA report. Warrix was pronounced dead at 8:19 p.m., 13 minutes after arriving at ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Area Medical Center, per the report.
An air evacuation flight crew had decided to transport him by ambulance due to his condition after he became unresponsive following transport to the surface, according to the report. Warrix had been alert and responsive and complained of neck and hip pain, stating he could not straighten his legs due to pain following the incident, the report states.
MSHA: Roof control plan ignored
The MSHA report states the agency on Dec. 9, 2025, approved the Panther Eagle Mine’s roof control plan, which requires a specific sequencing for pillar extraction.
The report notes that one lift mined from the left side of the mine entry where the incident occurred during the day shift preceding the incident exceeded the roof control plan by a depth of 12.5 feet and width by 17 feet and that during the evening shift, just before the accident, a lift mined from the right side of the entry exceeded the roof control plan by a depth of 12 feet and width of 24 feet.
The noncompliant sequence of mining allowed by Marfork Coal Company prevented proper installation of posts between lifts to supplement the roof support and increased the span of unsupported roof, allowing the roof strata to sag and become unstable, the MSHA report found.
While installing posts in preparation for the next lift, Warrix was positioned under unsupported roof in a turn post area prohibited by the roof control plan, per the MSHA report.
Day shift section foreman Benjamin Hapney and evening shift section foreman Matthew Boulet should have observed what the report states were obvious excessive widths and depths of both lifts, and the absence of posts, and Boulet should have noticed damaged roof bolts, the report found, adding that an extensive amount of time continuous mining machines would have been in the cuts should have alerted Hapney and Boulet that the mine was noncompliant with the mining sequence in the roof control plan.
Roof violations have persisted since fatal incidentÂ
The report notes that Marfork Coal Company took corrective actions that included retraining all miners and supervisors on the requirement that no person work or travel under unsupported roof, training on the approved roof control plan that covered lift dimensions and extraction sequence, and retraining certified personnel on conducting sufficient examinations and identifying hazardous conditions, according to the report.
But a Gazette-Mail review of MSHA records found that roof support safety violations have persisted at the mine since the incident, along with other safety infractions.
MSHA records show 72 violations assessed to Marfork Coal Company for the Panther Eagle Mine since the incident, including 11 that the agency categorized as “Significant and Substantial,†a designation used for hazards the agency deems reasonably likely to result in serious injury.
Of those 11 violations, five were for violations of federal code requiring the roof, face and ribs of work or travel areas to be supported or controlled to protect against them falling in addition to coal or rock bursts.
Marfork Coal Company also failed to comply with federal code requiring cleanup of coal dust and prevention against it building in active work areas or on diesel-powered and electric equipment, according to the report.
Warrix’s death was preceded by three others at Alpha-controlled mining facilities in West Virginia since the start of 2025.
MSHA determined that electrician Eric Bartram, 41, of Chapmanville died in August after he was pinned between the elevator and the first-floor elevator platform at the Alpha-controlled Marfork preparation plant in Raleigh County because Marfork didn’t properly maintain the circuit control board and remove it from service when a dangerous condition existed.
Section foreman Steven Lipscomb, 42, of Elkview, died at the Alpha-controlled Rolling Thunder Mine in Nicholas County in November after the mine was inundated with water. Lipscomb was found dead on Nov. 13 after a 113-hour underground search mission.
The West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training issued five violations to Rolling Thunder Mine operator Nicholas-Contura LLC in the 11 days leading up to that incident, including of a state legislative rule requiring personnel carriers or trip cars used to transport miners to a working section to be maintained with adequate capacity to transport all miners out of the working section in an emergency.
An August MSHA final report found that Marfork safety failures resulted in the Feb. 28, 2025, death of Billy Stalker, 46, of Elkhorn City, Kentucky, at the Marfork-operated Black Eagle Mine in Raleigh County.
Stalker, a seal construction worker and crew leader for Wright Concrete Underground LLC, a Pikeville, Kentucky-based concrete contractor, died when a portion of rib rock fell on him, according to a MSHA report.
Marfork Coal failed to support an area of the mine to protect miners and conduct adequate pre-shift examinations, the MSHA report determined, concluding that Marfork “engaged in aggravated conduct constituting more than ordinary negligence,†with a foreman directing contractors to work in an area with hazardous roof and rib conditions and examinations not identifying “obvious and extensive†hazards.
Alpha did not respond to a request for comment.
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