SALT LAKE CITY - The government ordered a $420,300 fine after finding safety violations at a Utah coal mine.

Federal regulators say they assessed the fine against Andalex Resources Inc. for accumulations of coal dust and hydraulic oil on equipment at the Aberdeen coal mine in 2006 and 2007. The mine is near Price in Carbon County.

The government says dust and oil made the mine vulnerable to fire and explosion.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration says Andalex is controlled by Bob Murray, chief of Murray Energy Corp. The company is co-owner of the Crandall Canyon mine, where nine people died during two cave-ins in August.

There was no immediate response Thursday from Murray Energy.

According to MSHA inspection records, an excess of hydraulic oil, fine coal particles and explosive dust covered a conveyer belt, hoses, electric conduits and tram motors at the Abderdeen mine.

Those conditions, combined with methane emissions and an ignition source, could "blow the whole mine up, so the violations are significant," said Bob Ferriter, a former MSHA engineer who teaches safety at the Colorado School of Mines.

"It's like being at the wrong end of a shotgun. It blows up everything. You don't want to be there," he said.