Theresa D'Aurora, the office manager at the plant owned by AL Solutions Inc., confirmed that two employees died in Thursday's explosion. She could not provide any other details.

She said that although the company handles chemicals, there have been no evacuations in the area. The company develops additives for the aluminum industry.

Ken Kline, the chief financial officer for AL Solutions Inc., said the blast happened just before 1:30 p.m. at the Hancock County plant, which employs about 25 people. The blast happened in the main production building, he said.

"We're trying to determine the extent of the damage and take care of our employees," he said.

Labor Department spokeswoman Joanna Hawkins said the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating and on its way to the scene.

AL Solutions was formerly called Jamegy Inc. The company website says it also has a plant in Missouri.

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Then, on December 3, Massey Energy announced that Blankenship was stepping down, at the tender age of 60, from his positions as CEO and chairman of the company. Is this another "big scalp" for Rolling Stone, as suggested by Felix Salmon?First a four-star general -- then one of the most powerful energy company CEOs in the U.S.? Or was it the looming law suits, government investigations, and pressure from institutional investors?

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The official Xinhua News Agency says another 20 miners survived the blast that struck Tuesday evening at a pit in Mianchi County.

Xinhua gave no indication of the cause of the blast. Most such accidents are blamed on a buildup of coal gas or methane that are then ignited by sparks or open flames.

China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, with thousands of miners killed every year. Officials have sought to improve safety, but massive demand for coal induces many producers to cut corners and sidestep regulations.

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Even if any of the missing men had survived the initial explosion Friday at the Pike River Mine, police said none could have lived through the second. Both blasts were believed caused by explosive, toxic gases swirling in the tunnels dug up to 1 1/2 miles (2 kilometers) into a mountain that had also prevented rescuers from entering the mine to search for the missing.

"There was another massive explosion underground, and based on that explosion no one would have survived," said police superintendent Gary Knowles, in charge of the rescue operation. "The blast was prolific, just as severe as the first blast."

It was one of New Zealand's worst mining disasters. The country's industry is relatively small compared to other nations and considered generally safe, with 210 deaths in 114 years after the most recent tragedy.

It also devastated families who -- buoyed by the survival tale of Chile's 33 buried miners -- had clung to hope for more than five days that their relatives could emerge alive.

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Two dazed and slightly injured miners stumbled to the surface hours after the blast shot up the 354-foot- (108-meter-) long ventilation shaft at the Pike River mine. Video from the scene showed blackened trees and light smoke billowing from the top of the rugged mountain where the mine is located, near Atarau on New Zealand's South Island.

A company official had earlier said that five men had come out of the mine, based on information provided by the two men who had surfaced. By Saturday morning, however, officials had seen no sign of the other three men.

By daybreak, no communication had been received from any of the missing workers, the company said, and rescuers were unable to enter the mine because of the risk of a buildup of explosive methane gas.

"There could be another explosion," said mine safety expert David Feickert, who noted that officials don't yet know what caused the original ignition, and rescuers will enter the mine only when it is safe.

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A miner who survived the cave-in told authorities that four of his colleagues remain trapped in the mine, located near the city of Portovelo, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Quito. The mine is operated by the Ecuadorean company Minesadco.

The collapse happened at 3:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. EDT; 0830 GMT) and blocked a tunnel, trapping the workers at the fifth level of the mine, Deputy Mining Minister Jorge Espinosa said. The condition of the men was unknown.

Espinosa said that 50 rescue workers were digging out the main tunnel while others were preparing to possibly dig a hole from the side to reach the gallery where the miners are believed to be trapped.

A statement from the Ministry of Nonrenewable Resources said a crisis committee is coordinating rescue efforts at the Casa Negra mine concession.

It identified the miners as Paul Aguirre, Pedro Mendoza, Walter Vera and Angel Vera.

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But it also has been a bevy of intrigue, envy and rivalries that have divided the miners' relatives holding vigil here -- just as their shared plight unites them.

With the miners' exit from their underground prison scheduled for as early as Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, the mood was less of merrymaking than of exhaustion and frazzled nerves.

"Here the tension is higher than down below. Down there they are calm," said Veronica Ticona, sister of 29-year-old Ariel Ticona, a trapped rubble-removal machine operator.

After 68 days of shared fears and jitters -- all of it under the close scrutiny of dozens of reporters that have now grown to a battalion -- the early fellowship has frayed. Some relationships, once at least cordial, are as hostile as the desolate sands of the surrounding Acatama desert.

Relatives privately shared stories of the divisiveness with an Associated Press reporter who spent the past month at the camp, frequently bedding down in a tent beside theirs, sharing coffee and gossip.

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Navy Cmdr. Renato Navarro says the team installed 15 tubes to reinforce the top 295 feet (90 meters) of the shaft. That work finished Monday. Now workers are installing a platform above the shaft to support the rescue capsule in which the men will be brought to the surface.

Officials say they hope that on Wednesday they can start bringing the men out of the mine where they have been trapped for more than two months.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile (AP) -- A torrent of emotions awaits the 33 miners when they finally rejoin the outside world.

As trying as it has been for them to survive underground for more than two months, their gold and copper mine is familiar territory. Once out of the shaft, they'll face challenges so bewildering, no amount of coaching can fully prepare them.

They'll be celebrated at first, embraced by their families and pursued by more than 750 journalists who have converged on the mine, competing for interviews and images to feed to a world intensely curious to hear their survival story.

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Atacama region Gov. Ximena Matas says the T130 probe has reached the cavern where the miners have been trapped since Aug. 5.

Officials plan now to widen the hole so that the miners can be pulled through it. That effort is likely to take more than six weeks.

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Dr. Jaime Manalich said rescuers are applying a holistic plan to support the miners' well-being during the months it may take to carve out the tunnel, including exercise and other activities to keep them from gaining weight.

"We're working to determine a secure area where the miners can manage things. The space they're in actually has about two kilometers of galleries to walk around in," he said. "We hope to define a secure area where they can establish various places -- one for resting and sleeping, one for diversion, one for food, another for work."

Establishing a daily and nightly routine is important, the minister said, adding that having fun also will be critical. The rescue team is creating an entertainment program "that includes singing, games of movement, playing cards. We want them to record songs, to make videos, to create works of theater for the family."

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Judd was at the White House press club in June when she decried the practice and called it the "rape of Appalachia." This did not sit well with politicians and coal mining bigwigs in her family's home state -- and participants at a golf tournament there this week got an eyeful of Judd's topless 2006 Marie Claire magazine cover with the words "Ashley Judd makes a living removing her top, why can't coal miners?" printed on it.

Why a golf tournament? The course itself is a mining reclamation site that was name-dropped by Judd when discussing MTRM, and the players were made up of mostly miners and their supporters. An "anonymous donor" furnished the golf course with the sign, which might mean a kid in a basement with Photoshop.

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In 2009, Paul described his views on mountaintop mining to a TV interviewer as follows:

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Massey chief executive Don Blankenship told senators he is committed to workplace safety and insisted his company worked hard to reduce the spate of serious violations at the Upper Big Branch mine in the months before an explosion killed 29 workers.

"Massey does not place profits over safety," Blankenship said in his first appearance before Congress since the April 5 explosion at the West Virginia mine. "We never have and we never will."

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., took strong exception, saying the mine had "an alarming record" of serious infractions.

"I cannot fathom how an American business could practice such disgraceful health and safety policies while at the same time boasting about its commitment to the safety of workers," said the 92-year-old senator, who spoke haltingly but forcefully from his wheelchair.

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Mine operators and regulators must improve, U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration director Joe Main said during a daylong conference with industry officials. For instance, just 32 of 418 U.S. coal mines have complied with the agency's advice for preparing for disasters.

"This is something I firmly believe we've got to fix," Main said.

Main told the conference that mine operators need to do more themselves to be prepared -- and act -- before MSHA and state regulators arrive at a disaster such as the explosion that killed 29 and injured two at Massey Energy Co.'s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia on April 5. It was the nation's worst coal mining disaster in 40 years.

"There's been an artificial reliance on MSHA. The expectation was that we're going to be there Johnny on the spot. That has never been the case," Main said.

Among other things, MSHA wants operators to mark key underground locations on the surface. That makes it easier for rescuers to know where to drill holes to search for miners or survey the atmosphere in a mine such as West Virginia's Upper Big Branch.

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It's not the main regulation story in the news today -- that, obviously, is the ongoing fight over how to rein in risk-happy banks -- but the New York Times has a long investigative piece about coal mine safety violations that's more revealing, in a way, than any reporting about Mitch McConnell and Chris Dodd arguing over bank liquidation authority.

The article, titled "2 mines show how safety practices vary widely in U.S.," demonstrates how enormous the distance can become between rules and practices. If a company like Massey Energy -- owner of the recently collapsed coal mine at Upper Big Branch -- wants to break the rules, it currently has practically unlimited power to do so.

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The process, known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" for short, involves the injection of a mix of water, sand and chemicals into gas wells to break up rock and ease the gas to the surface. Environmental groups have long said that fracking -- especially common in the mountain West -- causes chemicals to leach into drinking water, and exposes people living nearby to health risks. But Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., two of the sponsors of the FRAC Act, a House bill that would establish federal environmental controls over the process of hydraulic fracturing, are now calling for committee hearings and renewed research into the environmental impacts of the drilling method. Last month Hinchey attached a provision to the House Appropriations bill authorizing funding for such a study.

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Extracting the copper will be a mighty endeavor for the China Metallurgical Group (MCC), which beat out contenders from Russia, the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. to win the bid. MCC must first build a power plant to provide electricity for the mining operations, and simultaneously develop coal resources to fuel the power plant. Excess power from the plant will be used to supply Kabul with much-needed electricity. Thousands of jobs will reportedly be created, though if China's record in Africa is any guide, many of those jobs may be filled by Chinese workers, and not Afghanis.

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No one knows this better than the coal miners and the community in Sago, W.Va., where 12 miners lost their lives in January 2006. They were some of the recent ones, joining the legions of nameless and otherwise forgotten coal miners and mining communities across the country, which have lost so many of their own over the decades.

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Tang is referring to the practice in which Western nations export their waste to the developing world, a variety of "trade" that is coming under increasing attack. The easy reaction is to see the waste trade as evidence of a double standard reeking of colonial legacies: The West doesn't want its own garbage but has no qualms about sending it to China. Tang makes a useful distinction in his interesting article, pinning the blame on independent corporations operating in an unregulated global environment, rather than on the historical power relations between developed and developing nations.

But the picture gets murkier when you start looking more closely at China's own behavior.

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No question, it's tough to compete with such state-sponsored power, though it doesn't quite match up with the way Western mining companies used to go about their business, which was to ride in on the back of outright imperialist conquest. But times change -- a fact that is nowhere more obvious than in the hope expressed by Western mining company executives that environmental standards will be their savior.

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