MineTheft.com Locates 17 Stolen Rescuers for WV Mining Operation.
Since launching the MineTheft.com website little more than six months ago, hundreds of self-contained self-rescuers, or SCSR's, have been reported stolen. MineTheft.com recently recieved a copy of the national database of SCSR records from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration. This database contains information from each mining operation which includes the SCSR serial number, manufacture date, service status, and reporting mine ID.
"After recieving approximately 67,000 records of SCSR's from MSHA, we took our database of reported stolen rescuers and cross referenced the serial numbers. We immediately found 18 matches. The SCSR's were being reported stolen from WV Mine Power, a coal mine located in West Virginia and they were showing up at a different mine in Virginia." said James Nagle of MineTheft.com.
Mr. Steve Malcomb of WV Mine Power was immediately contacted by MineTheft.com. "I notified our Greenbrier County Sheriff Department of the location where the stolen rescuers were on or about December 11, 2006. On the last of February, 2008 the Sheriff's Department sent two Deputies to these location's to investigate why these mining operations had possession of the stolen property. The rescuers were eventually returned to our company on March 3, 2007. I want to give my sincere thanks to MineTheft.com for continuing to monitor stolen mine equipment. There is no doubt in my mind that this property would not have been recovered without their assistance." said Mr. Malcomb.
Even though MSHA obtains information concerning SCSR's from mining operations across the country, they do not check to see if the serial number has been reported as missing from another mining operation. MineTheft.com reports MSHA is very cooperative about releasing this information under Freedom Of Information Act requests. MineTheft.com plans to continuously obtain new records from MSHA which should prove to locate additional stolen SCSR's in the future. "We can see that this process is already starting to work. When buyers of stolen equipment finally realize that they can and will get caught, thieves will realize that there is no market for their stolen goods. Now that MSHA is requiring reports of SCSR records, there is no way to hide stolen equipment across state lines." said James Nagle of MineTheft.com.
MineTheft.com is a free service provided to mining operations by Mine Lifeline, LLC. It's goal is to aid in the recovery of stolen equipment. For more information, please contact James Nagle at 304-855-7080.
