SALT LAKE CITY — Owners of the Crandall Canyon coal mine where nine men died in 2007 were scheduled to admit in federal court Wednesday to safety violations that preceded the collapses that killed them.

Genwal Resources will plead guilty to two misdemeanor criminal charges for willfully violating federal mine health and safety laws. U.S. District Judge David Sam is expected to fine the company $500,000, according to a plea agreement.

The charges aren't directly related to the fatal mine collapses but instead stem from earlier activities at the mine, federal prosecutors said.

Genwal acknowledged it failed to timely report a "significant coal outburst" to the Mining Safety and Health Administration on March 10, 2007, an event that caused the permanent withdrawal of miners from the area.

It also admitted to mining an area on Aug. 3, 2007, that the MSHA-approved roof control plan expressly prohibited. The area was far removed from the location of the catastrophic collapse three days later.

As part of the plea agreement, the U.S. Attorney's Office agreed not to bring other charges against Genwal or any of its related companies or officers in connection with the companies' activities in the Crandall Canyon mine in 2006 and 2007.

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Plastic flowers still line the entrance to the Crandall Canyon mine. The mine itself is as quiet now as it's been in four years.

The Crandall Canyon Mine near Huntington collapsed Aug. 6, 2007, entombing six miners: Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Arturo "Manuel" Sanchez.

The collapse of the mine's walls 1,800 feet underground happened with such force it registered as a 4.2-magnitude seismic event.

Fears of the mine's stability stymied early rescue attempts and were later born out in the second collapse that killed three would-be rescuers 10 days later. In addition to the fatalities of Ron Black, Gary Jensen and Brandon Kimber, six other rescuers suffered serious injuries.

Wednesday's anticipated court actions come 3½ years after federal mine safety officials and Congress asked the U.S. Attorney's Office to launch a criminal investigation into the mine's operation.

"In gathering and evaluating the evidence, our office not only considered all of the potential charges that Congress and MSHA referred, but we also considered many more theories of prosecution beyond those in the referrals," said U.S. Attorney David Barlow.

Civil lawsuits brought by relatives of the victims against four companies linked to the mine operation, affiliates, insurance companies and mining consultants were settled in 2009. Although specific terms of the settlement were undisclosed, attorneys for the families said the amount was in excess of $20 million — the amount paid in settling claims related to the 1984 Wilberg mine explosion.

Contributing: Dennis Romboy

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