COLUMBUS, OH - The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) will conduct subsurface drilling tests beginning the second week of August to determine the extent and condition of abandoned underground mines in a residential neighborhood of Mineral Ridge and Weathersfield Township in south central Trumbull County.

The initial drilling will take place along Edwards Street, Depot Street, and other associated public rights of ways; however, ODNR officials may later ask permission to evaluate some private properties as well. Work is expected to be completed by the end of August 2008. Owners of thirty-six (36) adjacent properties were mailed a detailed packet of information by ODNR concerning the drilling procedure.

ODNR Project Officer Jim Gue, with the Division of Mineral Resources Management’s district office in Salem said the program - called the Edwards Street Area-wide Exploratory Drilling Project - will define the limits of mapped and possibly unmapped abandoned underground coal mines in the area and will help develop recommendations to reduce the risk of damage or property loss caused by mine subsidence activity.

In recent years, the neighborhood has experienced several subsidence incidents due to the collapse of abandoned mines dating as far back as the late 1880’s. Mines from that era were often not mapped or the existing maps were incomplete, Gue said.