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Company To Seal Up Coal Mine Disaster Site

The West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 29 men two years ago will be permanently sealed with concrete. That project will begin later today. 

Virginia-based Alpha Natural resources, which acquired the mine when it bought Massey Energy last summer, says it will seal the portals, large tunnels miners use to get underground, at the Upper Big Branch Mine. Boreholes will be plugged and shafts that house the huge industrial fans meant to sweep bad air out of the mine will be closed to prevent access. The company says the job should be finished by summer.