The Division of Coal Mine Workers’ Compensation (DCMWC) launched the Claimant Online Access Link (C.O.A.L.) Mine (electronic document submission) Portal in 2016. This tool allows claimants, responsible operators, insurance companies, medical providers, and benefits counselors to electronically submit documents to black lung case files. Electronically submitted documents will be available to DCMWC claims staff within 4 hours of submission, thus eliminating the delays associated with postal mail.

DCMWC stakeholders can access the C.O.A.L. Mine portal by visiting the website at: https://eclaimant.dol.gov/portal/?program_name=BL. To submit a document using the C.O.A.L. Mine portal, users will need the DCMWC Case ID number, the claimant’s last name and the claimant’s date of birth. (A DCMWC Case ID number is assigned after a claimant files his or her claim by sending a Form CM-911 CM-911a or Form CM-912 to the DCMWC Central Mail Room in San Antonio, Texas.) Stakeholders may submit medical reports, employment forms, extension requests and other documents to DCMWC by uploading them directly into the C.O.A.L. Mine portal. The system assigns each submitted document a Document Control Number (DCN), which can be used to track the document’s status.

DCMWC is committed to providing excellent customer service to our stakeholders. The use of the C.O.A.L. Mine portal is voluntary. If you do not wish to electronically upload documents into the portal, you may continue to mail documents to the Central Mail Room or bring documents to the District Office servicing your claim. Please include the DCMWC Case ID number on all documents. The address for the Central Mail Room is:

U.S. Department of Labor OWCP/DCMWC
P.O. Box 8307
London, KY 40742-8307

You can access the C.O.A.L. Mine portal directly at:

https://eclaimant.dol.gov/portal/?program_name=BL

The C.O.A.L. Mine portal website contains detailed instructions for submitting documents electronically. If you have questions regarding the C.O.A.L. Mine portal or problems uploading documents, please contact the District Office handling the claim.