Nick Shakesby, chief operating officer at US miner, Maple Carpenter Creek, said on Monday that a new mine could be up and running by 2014, at a site the company controls about 50 miles northeast of Billings, Montana.
Mr Shakesby said that the company was not interested in just sitting on the mine: "We're marketing it offshore — Asia and India." Maple Creek has a permit application pending before state regulators to dig a 300,000 ton test pit near Melstone. Public comments on the application are due by March 10. The company is also considering a second mine in the west of the state, at Snider Ranch
Maple Carpenter Creek controls 380 million tons of coal through leases on an estimated 30,000 acres with more leases to come.
Montana is known to have vast proven reserves of coal of around 120 billion tons – enough to last the USA over 100 years – yet coal production in the state is still quite low – around 39 million tons a year, or one-tenth of that produced in neighbouring Wyoming. One reason for this is the prevalence of surface coal mines in Wyoming, but as those mines become more expensive as the easier coal is mined, then places such as Montana become more attractive.
Last month the state’s land board was unable to lease the 572 million Otter Creek coal tracts near Ashland after potential suitors balked at the high up-front payment while in November, Arch Coal signed the lease on a 730-million ton tract in November.
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