A dragline used to dig at the Coyote Creek Mine near Beulah, ND got stuck in a pit Tuesday afternoon.
The incident was caused by the working area below the dragline becoming unstable, according to David Straley, vice president of external affairs for North American Coal, which owns Coyote Creek.
Draglines are massive machines, generally hundreds of feet high and weighing thousands of tons, with a boom about the length of a football field.
The Coyote Creek dragline and the working area are both now stable, and the event resulted in only minor damage to the dragline. No injuries resulted from the incident, and the dragline should resume its normal operations in seven to 10 days, Straley said.
“Our primary focus is to provide a safe working environment for our employees, and efforts are underway to safely return the dragline back to its main purpose — uncovering coal,” Straley said in a statement Wednesday.
The cause of the incident is under investigation. It’s unclear if it was related to the ice storm that hit eastern North Dakota on Tuesday.
