Coal Age Magazine - For more than 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/465229
With many electric utilities having installed scrubbers and other modern air quality controls in recent years, the state's coal is in increasing demand domestically and has been making some inroads in foreign markets. Foresight is expected to boost production in 2015 at its longwall mines and possibly its Shay No. 1 continuous miner operation in Macoupin County. But the biggest single-mine increase could come from White Oak Resources' White Oak No. 1 longwall mine near McLeansboro in Hamilton County. EVA said White Oak 1 produced 1.7 million tons in 2014. However, projections by Alliance, which has financed much of the mine's development and receives royalties from privately owned White Oak, are for the mine to produce more than 5 million short tons in 2015. Meanwhile, Hallador Energy's Sunrise Coal subsidiary is expect- ed to be issued a state mining permit this year for its new Bulldog underground mine in Vermilion County, although production at the projected 3-million-tons-per-year mine most likely will not com- mence until 2016. At least at the state level, the coal industry may be in better shape politically this year. Republican businessman Bruce Rauner defeated incumbent Democrat Pat Quinn in the November general election and is widely viewed as more supportive of coal than his successor. Gonet, for example, served on Rauner's energy and environment transition committee. Rauner is "pro-coal and wants to grow the economy with jobs and sees an opportunity with the coal industry," Gonet said. "So, we supported him." Log Creek Will Start Producing Coal This Year Years in the planning, the Log Creek underground mine near Spurgeon in Pike County, Indiana, finally is set to start producing high-sulfur coal later this year, albeit under the auspices of an owner different than the one who initially developed the planned continu- ous miner operation. Triad Mining began planning for Log Creek late in the last decade, not long after it was acquired for $75 million in May 2005 by James River Coal of Richmond, Virginia. But it never operated the former surface mine as an underground operation. James River and 33 affili- ates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on April 7, 2014. Last August, Lexington, Kentucky-based Blackhawk Mining LLC bought Central Appalachia and Illinois Basin steam, PCI and stoker coal assets, including Triad, from James River for $52 million plus an agreement to assume certain, unspecified liabilities. Blackhawk is doubling down on its investment in Central Appalachia at a time when some producers are closing or cutting back across the region. By purchasing Triad, Blackhawk also gained entree to the high-sulfur Illinois Basin, arguably the healthiest coal- producing region in the United States. Triad operates several surface and underground mines in Pike and Knox counties in southwestern Indiana, extracting coal from multiple seams including the Springfield, Danville, Millersburg, Bucktown and Hymera seams. Triad consistently produces more than 2 million tons of coal annually. Blackhawk President Nick Glancy said in January his company secured a market for Log Creek's coal, although he did not identify the customer(s) or disclose terms of the agreement. As currently envi- sioned by Blackhawk, Log Creek will not be a large mine, perhaps pro- ducing 50,000 to 75,000 tons in 2015 with a single continuous miner section before ramping up to 250,000 to 300,000 tons on an annualized basis in 2016 when Log Creek expands to a supersection. Knight Hawk Coal Production Remains Stable Steve Carter, president of Knight Hawk Coal LLC, likes the word "con- sistent." And it certainly applies in the case of the southern Illinois high-sulfur steam coal producer that, since its humble beginnings 17 years ago, slowly but consistently has boosted production — to a pro- jected 5 million tons or more — in 2015. "We're kind of in a consistent mode and hope to stay there," Carter said in January. The family-owned company traces its roots to 1998 when a crew of 17 people turned a fallow southern Illinois crop field into a coal mine. In the interim, the fledgling company partnered with the much larger, St. Louis-based Arch Coal Inc. in 2006. Initially, n e w s c o n t i n u e d C A L E N D A R O F E V E N T S March 1-4, 2015: PDAC 2015 , Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Canada. Contact: Web: www.pdac.ca/convention. March 6-7,2015: Coaltrans India , Grand Hyatt Goa, Goa, India. Contact: Web: www.coal- trans.com. April 16-17, 2015: Coaltrans China , Sofitel Beijing, Beijing, China. Contact: Web: www.coaltrans.com. April 27-29, 2015: Coal Prep 2015 Conference , Lexington Center, Lexington, Kentucky. Contact: Web: www.coalprepshow.com. May 10-13, 2015: CIM Convention, Montreal, Quebec. Contact: CIM; Web: http://con- vention.cim.org/. May 11-15, 2015: Economic Evaluation and Investment Decision Methods five-day course , Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado. Contact: CSM SPAC; Email: space@mines.edu; Tel: 303-279-5563; Website: www.csmspace.com/events/econeval. May 17-19, 2015: Haulage and Loading 2015 , Wigwam Resort, Phoenix, Arizona. Contact: Email: tfearney@mining-media.com; Web: www.haulageandloading.com. June 7-10, 2015: CoalTrans Asia , BICC, Bali, Indonesia. Contact: Web: www.coaltrans.com. June 16-18, 2015: Longwall USA Exhibition and Conference , The David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Contact: Email: tfearney@mining- media.com; Web: www.longwallusa.com. July 27-31, 2015: Economic Evaluation and Investment Decision Methods five-day course , Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado. Contact: CSM SPAC; Email: space@mines.edu; Tel: 303-279-5563; Website: www.csmspace.com/events/econeval. July 28-30, 2015: 34 th International Conference on Ground Control in Mining , Morgantown, West Virginia. Contact: Web: http://icgcm.conferenceacademy.com. September 16-18, 2015: Bluefield Coal Show , Brushfork Armory-Civic Center, Bluefield, West Virginia. Contact: Web: www.bluefieldchamber.com/bluefield-coal-show. October 17-19, 2015: 34 th International Conference on Ground Control in Mining (China) , Jiaozuo, China. Contact: Nan Hua; Tel: (86) 13569149976; Email:icgcmchina@gmail.com. October 19-21, 2015: Economic Evaluation and Investment Decision Methods three-day course , Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado. Contact: CSM SPAC; Email: space@mines.edu; Tel: 303-279-5563; Website: www.csmspace.com/events/econeval. November 9-13, 2015: Economic Evaluation and Investment Decision Methods five-day course , Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado. Contact: CSM SPAC; Email: space@mines.edu; Tel: 303-279-5563; Website: www.csm- space.com/events/econeval. 16 www.coalage.com February 2015