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It is reported that Mr Ron Thompson the mine manager of New ElkCoal Mine addressed a meeting of the county board of commissioners,talking about what's going on at the mine and fieldingquestions from commissioners about the mine's operations andfuture plans. Mr Thompson told commissioners that mining operations began inJanuary this year. He said New Elk Coal had assumed the running ofoperations at the end of March, taking over from TK Mining, thecontractor who originally ran operations there. Mr Thompson saidthe company had shipped out two loads of coal from the rail yard inJansen. Three or four more trainloads should be shipped out thismonth, bringing the total amount of coal shipped to 500,000 tons. Mr Thompson said the price of the metallurgical coal produced isquite low right now. He said the price is lower than forecast atthe beginning of 2012. He said the company had hoped to ship 1million tons of coal by the end of the year, but now feels that500,000 tons was a more realistic goal considering the fall inprices. Mr Thompson said the mine employs 290 hourly workers and 40administrative and supervisory personnel. He said New Elk Coal ismining out of the Allen seam, which was the original seam mined byColorado Fuel & Iron, the mine's original owner. The companyhas also accessed the Blue seam, which also contains metallurgical,or coking, coal. Coking coal is a key component is steelproduction. He said the mine could be producing coal from fourdifferent seams by June 1, but will only produce from three untilthe price improves. He thanked commissioners for their support and said the company hasgotten the Colorado Division of Wildlife to expand the area thecompany leases from the state. The agreement increases the miningarea from 15,000 acres to 30,000 acres. Mr Thompson said "At our peak production goal of 3 milliontons a year, we expect there to be 30 years of production remainingat the mine. He said that things are running smoothly at the mineand New Elk Coal hopes to have many more years of successfulproduction at the mine, adding that its always difficult to knowhow long the coal will last." Mr Thompson said a preliminary engineering study had been done inMarch to study the grade, the bridges and what work would need tobe done to complete the line. He said the report on the study wasfavorable and had no unexpected surprises. He said thecompany's target date for completion of the rail line was theend of the first quarter of 2013. He said at peak production ofthree million tons a year, there could be four trains a weekrolling into Jansen. Commissioner Mr Jim Vigil said the rail line would pass very closeto the Pioneer Natural Resources facility and asked if any problemsmight result from that close proximity. Mr Thompson said his company had been having talks with Pioneerabout the issue. A signaled railroad crossing would have to beinstalled. The trains will be traveling at 15 miles an hour, andthere would be two 15 minute periods when the trains would becoming and going and road traffic would be stopped. He said hiscompany had no problems in its discussions with Pioneer anddidn't foresee any problems because of the train traffic. He added that "We're committed to working with them soboth parties can have a successful operation. He also said New Elkmight contract with Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad torun the rail operation." Mr Thompson said New Elk hopes to eventually employ 500 people atthe mine. Commissioner Mr Vigil asked Mr Thompson if New Elk could still makemoney given the low price of coal. Mr Thompson said that while thecompany's profit margin wasn't as good as it wouldlike, it was good enough to make the mining operation financiallyviable. He said the market for metallurgical coal is different thanthe market for the coal used to generate electricity and said hefelt the market price would soon rise. Mr Liz Aragon who is running for a seat on the board this yearasked Mr Thompson about the mine's water usage. Aragon askedif the mine had enough water, where it was coming from and what washappening to the water after it was used. Mr Thompson said the mine gets 150 acre feet of water each yearfrom Hill Ranch through a water lease agreement. The mine has ashort term, YoY water lease agreement with the city of Trinidad forup to 150 acre-feet of water. He said the city has said it'swilling to discuss a long-term water lease. He said the mine needs 20 gallons of water to produce one ton ofcoal. If the mine reaches its goal of producing 3 million tons ofcoal a year it would need at least 500 acre-feet of water. He saidNew Elk is negotiating for more water rights, but said he chose notto discuss any details because he's not an expert on waterleasing issues. He said the mine re-uses all its water until none is left, aprocess he called water extinction. He said the mine puts no waterback into the system. He said Hill Ranch has an agreement with theCity to store some of its water at Trinidad Lake and New Elk isworking on an agreement with the Purgatory Water ConservancyDistrict to use some of that water stored in Trinidad Lake. Source - trinidad-times. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Stainless Steel Cable Ties , China Fruit Netting, and more. For more , please visit Wiring Duct today!
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