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Events/Disaster · 1968

Consol No. 9 mine explosion at Farmington

Disaster, 1968-11-20, United States.

What happened

An explosion at the Consol No. 9 mine at Farmington, West Virginia on 20 November 1968 killed 78 men. Ninety-nine miners were underground and 21 escaped. The mine was sealed on 30 November, and 19 victims remain entombed. The cause was never determined.1,2,3

Why it matters

NIOSH says the event would forever shape US mine safety and health.1,2,3

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Commonwealth bans iron ore exports

    The ban held back the Pilbara until 1960.4,5

  2. US Vice President Wallace visits the Kolyma gold camps

    The managers hid that gold was mined mainly by prisoners and misstated output.6,7

  3. Bois du Cazier fire at Marcinelle

    More than half of the dead were Italian. The acquittals in 1959 are criticised in the ETUI review.8,9,10,11

  4. Lithium brine production begins at Clayton Valley

    Brine is now the main source of lithium.12,13

  5. Kambalda West townsite established

    A second townsite was set up 4 km west of the original.14

  6. Orapa diamond mine: Wikidata inception date

    The Botswana diamond mine is dated to 1971 in Wikidata.15

  7. Wieliczka salt mine inscribed

    UNESCO World Heritage listing event.16

  8. Panguna mine halted

    The closure became tied to the Bougainville conflict.17,18

Open the full timeline

Where next

Events

Led toFederal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act signedFarmington killed 78 in November 1968. NIOSH says it shaped US mine safety for good.1ExamplesOrient No. 2 mine explosionOrient No. 2 was the deadliest US coal disaster after 1940 until Farmington in 1968.1ExamplesCentralia No. 5 mine explosionMSHA ranks Centralia among the larger US coal disasters after 1940. Farmington killed 78 in 1968.1

Places

Located inMonongahSee the nearby place: Monongah.1

Sources

  1. Fact Sheet 95-8: Historical Data on Mine Disasters in the United States US Mine Safety and Health Administration
  2. Underground Coal Mine Disasters 1900-2010: Events, Responses, and a Look to the Future NIOSH (Brnich and Kowalski-Trakofker)
  3. Farmington (item Q1145983), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  4. Iron Ore (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
  5. Canberra (item Q3114), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  6. Three Days in Auschwitz without Gas Chambers: Henry A. Wallace Visit to Magadan in 1944 Wilson Center
  7. Wikidata item Q7968 (Magadan)
  8. Crime and non-punishment: how the justice system failed the Marcinelle dead European Trade Union Institute (HESA newsletter 30)
  9. Worst Belgian industrial disaster: 8 August 1956 IndustriALL Global Union (ICEM archive)
  10. Today in History: Nearly 300 miners killed in the Marcinelle coal mine disaster (8 Aug 2023) The Brussels Times
  11. Marcinelle disaster (item Q16874544), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  12. Lithium, Professional Paper 1802-K US Geological Survey
  13. Silver Peak (item Q3709766), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  14. Mining and Energy Western Australia: Nickel State Library of Western Australia
  15. Wikidata item Q859817 (Orapa diamond mine)
  16. Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  17. History: Panguna Mine Bougainville Copper Limited
  18. Panguna mine (item Q17060798), coordinate location P625 Wikidata

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Chuquicamata from the ISS by Alexander Gerst (ESA), CC BY-SA 2.0.