Coal Age Magazine - For nearly 100 years, Coal Age has been the magazine that readers can trust for guidance and insight on this important industry.
Issue link: https://coal.epubxp.com/i/95257
bowie resources continued op at 9 ft. It's a Caterpillar longwall system with a Cat shearer," said Tanner. Conditions in Bowie's new mining area are very good, according to Tanner. "We've got the best conditions in our development section that we've had since 2007. Generally our roof and rib condi- tions are pretty good. We crossed a couple of faults coming over into this area, and we do have some faults to deal with, but we've learned how best to cross them, and in the big picture they're not big deals." When Bowie encountered some rough geology and the mine shut down, there just wasn't any place to move the long- wall. Unfortunately, all that could be done was to keep it stabilized until crews devel- oped a new block for it to mine. Also, in the area it was mining, Bowie was liberat- ing as much as 13 million cubic feet of gas per day. "The area we're in now doesn't have the geological influences that the other had. Currently, we're down to about a 1.3 million cubic feet of gas per day. The conditions are better. We're much better prepared. The vent shaft helps us with that. Our employees have learned to cross faults. At one time a lot of folks didn't think we could cross the faults that we had to, but we've become pretty creative about how to do it. We've come a long way in the last couple years," said Tanner. Currently, Bowie has several gob vent bore holes that liberate some methane, and it has studied various methods to see if it's economical to capture it. Where the gas is located, as far as the Forest Service or the BLM is concerned, it doesn't make sense to capture it. Complicating mat- ters, it's intermittent. "The gas will be there for a bit and then it won't. But it's not been enough to find ways to capture it," said Tanner. In total, Bowie's new ownership has put about $20 million in the last 12 months or so into this coal mine. "We have a new ventilation shaft that cost more than $6 million. We have a new continuous miner, some new shuttle cars, some new diesel equipment that's coming in, and we've done quite a bit of work rebuilding the infrastructure of our mine. Recently, we've added 100 employees. Previously, we were down to only 200 workers, but now we're back up to 320 employees. Bowie is kind of like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of the old mine. Some folks didn't think we'd make it past the 2010 timeframe, but we man- aged to get through and come out on the other side and succeed." Achieving & Maintaining a Social License Besides mining through tough condi- tions and weathering a difficult market, the three North Fork mines are located in an area under increasing environmental scrutiny. Bowie is the largest employer and the largest taxpayer in Delta County. The region's population is a mixture of ranchers, organic farmers, hippies, envi- ronmentalists, gas drillers and coal min- ers. With that composite, perhaps the hardest permit to get is a social license to operate. How do they do it? Bowie, as well as the other mines, is a good neigh- bor. "For example, if we put a conveyor in, we'll do things to mitigate the light pollution. We'll install hoods or shrouds on the light. If we put a fan in, we install noise suppression and updrafts so that the noise doesn't go through the valley. We try to redirect the noise into the sky 26 www.coalage.com November 2012