If he died in or as a result of a mining accident then my first suggestion for somewhere to look would be the Coal Mining History Resource Centre's website at
http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/site/home/ , on the mining accidents database. Having had a quick check under the name given, the year, and the pit I couldn't find anything but I'd guess variations of spelling or a wrong date can easily throw this. I'd also suggest this person tries contacting the local archive covering this area (Greater Manchester?) as they'll have things like parish and coroners records which might provide more info. Unless they were visiting the UK they'd need to pay the archive to do some searching for them so I'd strongly advise checking as many facts as possible before requesting any searching.
Follow the horses, Johnny my laddie, follow the horses canny lad-oh!