Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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September 15, 2011

Coal show: Much to see - Visitors to Bluefield get inside industry

By BILL ARCHER Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BRUSHFORK —  The entrance to the National Guard Armory in Brushfork was jammed with traffic as 237 vendors from 37 states, and three foreign countries opened their booths at the 19th biennial Bluefield Coal Show sponsored by the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re constantly looking at ways to ease the traffic congestion entering the National Guard Armory,” Charles Peters, Coal Show general chairman said. “We added a new parking area at the west end of the Armory. Some people have suggested that we have shuttle buses, but they would be caught in the traffic too.”

Peters praised the work of Kenneth Wallace and the officers with Wallace Security Agency who kept the heavy flow of traffic flowing into the armory parking areas. “Keeping it a coal show for coal people continues to make this show successful,” Peters said.

“We’re excited about it,” Jeremy Fairchild of Glen Lyn, Va., based Fairchild International said of the Coal Show. Fairchild produces underground coal mining machinery designed to meet the needs of coal operators mining low-seam coals. “We know our customers and we are focused on meeting their needs.”

The Fairchilds have participated in the Coal Show for generations. Jeremy’s father, Jack Fairchild Jr., one of the guiding forces behind the continued success of the Friends of Coal Auto Fair. Jack Fairchild Jr., is vice president of sales and marketing and general manager of Fairchild International, and his mother Myrleen Fairchild is company president. Jeremy Fairchild is sales manager.

“We’ve been here since the beginning,” Myrleen Fairchild said.

Joy Mining has also been part of the Coal Show since it started in 1976. “We’re very proud of that,” David R. (Randy) Campbell, sales manager-Americas for Joy said. All of the equipment that Joy has on display at the Coal Show already has the name of a customer painted on it, and will be headed directly to the mine site when the show ends on Friday.

“The customers are rightfully proud of their equipment, but they’re also eager to get the equipment working,” Campbell said. “We maintain a very busy production schedule,” so he said that the challenge is to coordinate the completion date of the equipment and the show dates with the delivery date.

Larry Lester, general manager of sales for Huntington-based Fletcher Mining Equipment said that Fletcher tries to bring different equipment to each Coal Show. He said that assembly time for the Model HDDR Dual Head Roof Bolter on tracks that Fletcher has on display took 6-8 weeks to assemble. “Business has been very steady,” Lester said.

Chris Kamits, 34, of Beckley, a longwall foreman on the hoot owl shift at Cliff’s Pinnacle Mine came to the show for the first time. He spent five years working on a section, but kept studying so he could advance to a foreman’s position.

“Modern coal mining has come a long way from the days of picks, shovels and hand loading,” Kamits said. “You’ve got to know your stuff including algebra, geometry and understanding complex tracking and communications systems.” Kamits said that as a foreman, he has to be able to take air readings, and calculate the ratios to determine the cubic feet per minute flow of any gases in the mines.

“I look at all the different professions represented here from lubricants and design to communications and reclamation, and I am amazed by everything that the coal industry touches in the region,” Anita Moody of Marshall Miller & Associates said. “I think that people in general don’t know how complex the coal industry is.”

The Coal show continues through today and Friday.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com

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