sentences:  He was accompanied by most of the mine's senior management, who had gone underground shortly before the explosion; the entire party was caught in the blast.The audit was reportedly being conducted in conjunction with the mine operator's planned initial public offering of stock shares to obtain cash for a $700 million investment programme.The operator of the mine is Yuzhkuzbassugol ("South Kuzbass Coal"), a half-owned associate of the Evraz Group conglomerate, which is Russia's largest producer of deep-mined coal.