Mill Fork Peak, located about 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south of the mine's entrance, is at elevation 9,885 feet (3,013 m).

The mine is co-owned by UtahAmerican Energy, Inc. (formerly Andalex Resources), a company with approximately US$65.1 million in annual sales, headquartered in Sandy, Utah.

On July 24, 2008, the U.S. government announced its highest penalty for coal mine safety violations against Genwal Resources, $1.64 million, for the 2007 collapse.

[2] Additional federal leases were expected to extend the life of the mine and new portals on its south side were slated to be installed to expand access options.

On March 10, 2007, the north barrier pillar suffered from a rock burst, in which pressure causes material from the walls and ceiling to explode inward into the excavated spaces.

Robert Murray claimed to be unaware of the incident but minutes of the March 21 meeting, released in January 2008, revealed that he had in fact known about it.

The mine collapsed, trapping six workers: Kerry Allred (58), Luis Hernandez (23), Brandon Phillips (24), Carlos Payan (22),[11] Manuel Sanchez (41), and Don Erickson (50).

Seismic waves from the "coal mine bump" (collapse) were reported as magnitude 3.9 to 4.0 by seismograph stations in Utah and Nevada.

[13][14][15][16] Rescue teams were dispatched immediately to assess the damage to the mine and begin clearing rubble to reach the cavity.

The process of clearing the rubble and reinforcing the passageways to the cavity was estimated to last between two and six weeks, but additional seismic activity and safety concerns introduced further delays.

[17] At 9:47 pm MDT Thursday August 9, 2007, a drill bit boring a 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) hole over 1,800 feet (550 m) into the presumed location of the trapped miners reached its targeted destination.

[18] The hole was fitted with a steel pipe to allow air samples to be recovered and a microphone to be lowered, which reached the cavity location underground early Friday morning on August 10.

[20] Initially, the subsequent sampling was thought to be consistent with a neighboring sealed-off mine cavity, and that the drill bit had simply drifted off course, but it was later confirmed that it actually did reach its targeted destination.

[25] These vibrations, heard by geophones lowered into the borehole, had a duration of around five minutes, but could easily have been an animal or even a rock crumbling, said Stickler.

On mid-day August 16, 2007, eleven days after the collapse, underground rescue teams were less than halfway through the rubble to the suspected location of the miners.

Continued bursting of tunnel walls damaged digging equipment and required additional structural reinforcement for the safety of the crew.

[28] Later on August 16, 2007, at about 6:30 pm MDT, the mine collapsed again when one of the walls of the tunnel exploded outwards, killing three rescue workers and injuring six others.

[32] A week later, Blake Hannah, a retired inspector who used to oversee the mine said that several warning signs — including reports from miners of weakening support structures — had been ignored.

[And they] are going through a living hell, and it's just heartbreaking" quoted Colin King of Rob Moore, vice president of Murray Energy, as he informed the families Saturday.

The mine failed to notify MSHA of the early danger signs, instead alerting the more industry-friendly Bureau of Land Management, when pillars started unexpectedly collapsing in March 2007.

His "obsession" for keeping a continuous log of the progress made or lost by tunneling rescuers was said to demand that the crews had to halt the rescue digging to report to him, in order to document hourly measurements.

[55] Genwal Resources was reported to use overly aggressive mining, and failed to recalibrate their modeling of Crandall's supposed stability to match the reduction of crucial barrier pillars.

[55] A trail near the entrance of the mine now leads to a paved area which serves as an on-site memorial for the nine men killed in the 2007 disaster.

It was unveiled on September 18, 2008, and features deep relief portraits of each of the nine men killed, and rises six feet off the ground, "so that the viewer looks each miner in the eye.