1 Contractor, Inc.'s Stony Point Mine is located 4.7 miles west of intersection 291 and Stony Point Road, in Hopkins County, Kentucky. The combined coal seams are approximately 10 feet in height. Wright Trucking Company of Clay, Ky., is contracted by No. 1 Contracting, Inc., to transport coal from the mine site. The Stony Point Mine employs 20 miners.
Maintenance is conducted as scheduled and needed.
The mine normally operates six days a week, producing an average of 1,500 tons of coal daily. Christopher Rickard, dayshift foreman, assigned the employees their duties and transported men to the various equipment, which was located out of the pit area. Rickard then entered the pit and conducted an on-shift examination of highwall and pit area. The pit and the highwall were deemed to be safe at that time. After the highwall drill was trammed into the work area, the dozer operator and drill operator discussed over the two-way radio what would be the best way to work this area while the bulldozer operator cleaned up and moved material from the area to prepare for the drilling, at this time, Hargis trammed the highwall drill to approximately 5 feet from the base of the highwall.