Coal news and updates

Sunrise Coal has won final approval from an Indiana county agency to construct a $5 million mine shaft to serve its existing Oaktown underground mining complex.

 

The Knox County Planning Commission voted Tuesday to endorse the project, Kent Utt, president of the Knox County Development Corp. and a supporter of the project, said in a Wednesday interview.

 

According to Utt, a large delegation of Oaktown miners attended the meeting to stress the portal's importance for safety and economic reasons. In the event of an accident at Oaktown's two continuous miner operations, Oaktown nos. 1 and 2, the new portal would lessen the amount of time needed to transport miners to a hospital. The new portal also would reduce operating costs for Sunrise, a subsidiary of Terre Haute, Indiana-based Hallador Energy.

 

About 180 Oaktown employees are expected to use the new shaft. Utt said he did not know when the new facility will be built and attempts to reach Brent Bilsland, Hallador's CEO, were unsuccessful Wednesday afternoon.

 

To allay concerns of some local residents about increased traffic flow in the area because of the new portal, the county has agreed to improve roads leading to the shaft.

 

While Sunrise did not threaten the close the mines if its request was denied, local officials like Utt did not want to take any chances.

SOurce:Platts