Overview

The Belle Ayr mine is a coal mine located 18 miles southeast of Gillette

Gillette, Wyoming

Gillette is a city in and the county seat of Campbell County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 29,087 in 2010. Gillette is a city centrally located in an area involved with the development of vast quantities of American coal, oil, and coal bed methane gas...

, Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 in the United States in the coal-rich Powder River Basin

Powder River Basin

The Powder River Basin is a geologic region in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its coal deposits. The region supplies about 40 percent of coal in the United States. It is both a topographic drainage and geologic structural basin...

. The mine is an open pit

Open-pit mining

Open-pit mining or opencast mining refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow....

, "truck and shovel", mine producing a low-sulfur, sub-bituminous coal from the Wyodak-Anderson seam that is used for domestic energy generation. Coal produced by the mine is shipped to its customers via railroad. The mine is currently owned and operated by Alpha Natural Resources

Alpha Natural Resources

Alpha Natural Resources is a large American producer of metallurgical and thermal coal. It also provides services relating to equipment repairs, road construction and logistics . It doesn't produce all of the coal it sells, some is purchased and resold. Alpha operates in Virginia, West Virginia,...

 after being acquired in a merger with Foundation Coal

Foundation Coal

Foundation Coal Holdings, Inc. was a large American coal mining company. Until its July 31, 2009 merger with Alpha Natural Resources to form the third largest American coal company, the company was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FCL...

 in 2009.

As of 2009, Belle Ayr had reserves of 406 mm tons of sub-bituminous coal and a maximum permitted production capacity of 45mm tons per year. Typical annual production has been in 26-28mm ton range for the last several years though. The average quality of the coal shipped from Belle Ayr is 8,550 BTU/lb, 0.33% Sulfur, 4.50% Ash, and 1.90% Sodium (of the ash). Train loading operations at the mine are done with a batch weigh bin system that is coupled to a "weigh-in-motion" track scale system. Silo capacity at the mine's rail loop, which can accommodate up to 5 unit trains, is 46,000 tons. In 2008, the mine produced just over 28.7 million short ton

Short ton

The short ton is a unit of mass equal to . In the United States it is often called simply ton without distinguishing it from the metric ton or the long ton ; rather, the other two are specifically noted. There are, however, some U.S...

s of coal, making it the 7th-most productive coal mine in the United States.

History

The Belle Ayr Mine began operations in 1972 and is the oldest, non-captive mine in the Powder River Basin

Powder River Basin

The Powder River Basin is a geologic region in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its coal deposits. The region supplies about 40 percent of coal in the United States. It is both a topographic drainage and geologic structural basin...

. Since mining operations began, the mine has shipped over 574 million tons of coal to its customers. The Belle Ayr mine has changed hands many times through mergers and sales. Previous owners include AMAX, Cyprus AMAX, RAG, and Foundation Coal.

In 2007, Belle Ayr was awarded a Director's Award from the Office of Surface Mining

Office of Surface Mining

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement is a branch of the United States Department of the Interior...

 for its restoration

Stream restoration

Stream restoration or river restoration, sometimes called river reclamation in the UK, describes a set of activities that help improve the environmental health of a river or stream. Improved health may be indicated by expanded habitat for diverse species and reduced stream bank erosion...

 work on Caballo Creek, which winds its way through the Belle Ayr Mine property.

Production

Year	Coal Production (tons)	Employees
2009	28,655,953	352
2008	28,707,982	328
2007	26,608,765	280
2006	24,593,035	256
2005	19,469,814	259
2004	18,688,358	259
2003	17,853,928	260
2002	17,452,455	235
2001	11,750,497	219
2000	11,750,497	249
1999	15,016,000	253
1998	17,885,338	280
1997	22,800,736	280
1996	19,970,300	261
1995	18,771,977	224
1994	18,361,866	239
1993	15,585,828	230
1992	13,007,761	233
1991	14,748,327	240
1990	15,524,782	241
1989	13,662,836	244
1988	13,295,487	275
1987	13,329,591	347
1986	12,145,894	361
1985	12,829,379	371
1984	13,379,844	381
1983	13,825,242	404
1982	14,800,000
1981	15,100,000
1980	15,900,000
1979	15,000,000
1978	17,800,000
1977	13,100,000
1976	7,100,000
1975	2,500,000
1974	2,700,000
1973	400,000
1972	100,000