UtahAmerican Energy, Inc. (formerly Andalex Resources), is a Bituminous coal underground coal mine and lignite surface mining company, headquartered in Sandy, Utah. UtahAmerican is a subsidiary of Cleveland, Ohio based Murray Energy Corporation. UtahAmerican is a company with approximately $65.1 million (USD) in annual sales, and 428 employees and was started in 1996. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The company operates the Crandall Canyon Mine, a bituminous coal, underground coal mine in northwestern Emery County, Utah, about 15 miles (24 km) west north-west of Huntington.
On Monday, August 6, 2007, at 2:48 A.M., the mine collapsed, trapping 6 workers inside. The workers are approximately 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the mine entrance and 1500 feet (457 m) underground. The collapse registered recorded seismic waves in magnitude 3.9 to 4.0, by seismograph stations of the University of Utah. Emery County, the state's No. 2 coal-producer, was also the site of a fire that killed 27 people in the Wilburg mine in December 1984. [5] [6] [7]
On March 20, 2008, the company was fined $420,300 by Federal authorities for "flagrant violations" at a mine in Price, Utah. [8]
Mines operated by UtahAmerican and managed by Genwal Resources Inc.:
Emery County is a county in east-central Utah, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 9,825. Its county seat is Castle Dale, and the largest city is Huntington.
Huntington is a city in northwestern Emery County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,129 at the 2010 census. It is the largest town in Emery County.
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a "pit", and above-ground mining structures are referred to as a "pit head". In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine.
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals or metals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially from underground coal mining, although accidents also occur in hard rock mining. Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, the presence of methane gas, and coal dust. Most of the deaths these days occur in developing countries, and rural parts of developed countries where safety measures are not practiced as fully. A mining disaster is an incident where there are five or more fatalities.
The Powder River Basin is a geologic structural basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about 120 miles (190 km) east to west and 200 miles (320 km) north to south, known for its extensive coal reserves. The former hunting grounds of the Oglala Lakota, the area is very sparsely populated and is known for its rolling grasslands and semiarid climate.
Massey Energy Company was a coal extractor in the United States with substantial operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. By revenue, it was the fourth largest producer of coal in the United States and the largest coal producer in Central Appalachia. By coal production weight, it was the sixth largest producer of coal in the United States.
Consol Energy Inc. is an American energy company with interests in coal headquartered in the suburb of Cecil Township, in the Southpointe complex, just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2017, Consol formed two separate entities: CNX Resources Corporation and CONSOL Energy Inc. While CNX Resources Corp. focuses on natural gas, spin-off Consol Mining Corporation, now Consol Energy Inc. focuses on coal. In 2010, Consol was the leading producer of high-BTU bituminous coal in the United States and the U.S.'s largest underground coal mining company. The company employs more than 1,600 people.
The Aracoma Alma Mine accident occurred when a conveyor belt in the Aracoma Alma Mine No. 1 at Melville in Logan County, West Virginia, caught fire. The conveyor belt ignited on the morning of January 19, 2006, pouring smoke through the gaps in the wall and into the fresh air passageway that the miners were supposed to use for their escape, obscuring their vision and ultimately leading to the death of two of them. The two men, Ellery Hatfield, 47 and Don Bragg, 33, died of carbon monoxide poisoning when they became separated from 10 other members of their crew. The others held hands and edged through the air intake amid dense smoke.
The Crandall Canyon Mine, formerly Genwal Mine, was a bituminous underground coal mine in northwestern Emery County, Utah, United States.
State Route 31 (SR-31) is a state highway in Sanpete and Emery Counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It runs for 47.746 miles (76.840 km) from US-89 at Fairview to SR-10 in Huntington. The highway has been designated as part of The Energy Loop, a National Scenic Byway.
Retreat mining is the removal of pillars in the underground mining technique known as room and pillar mining.
Robert Edward Murray was an American mining engineer and businessman. He founded and was the chief executive officer of Murray Energy, a mining corporation based in St. Clairsville, Ohio, until it filed for bankruptcy. Murray was criticized for his denial of climate change, his actions following the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse, and for several large strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) he initiated. Multiple allegations of sexual misconduct were brought against him in 2014 and 2016, which were later settled out of court.
A coal mine bump is a seismic jolt occurring within an underground mine due to the explosive collapse of one or more support pillars.
Arch Resources, previously known as Arch Coal, is an American coal mining and processing company. The company mines, processes, and markets bituminous and sub-bituminous coal with low sulfur content in the United States. Arch Resources is the second-largest supplier of coal in the United States, behind Peabody Energy. As of 2011 the company supplied 15% of the domestic market. Demand comes mainly from generators of electricity.
Connellsville is a ghost town located high in the mountains of Coal Canyon, near the head of Huntington Canyon in the northwestern corner of Emery County, Utah, United States. A coal mining and coke manufacturing center, Connellsville was the first settlement in what is now Emery County, inhabited from 1874 to 1878. The town now lies beneath the waters of Electric Lake.
Coal mining is an industry in transition in the United States. Production in 2019 was down 40% from the peak production of 1,171.8 million short tons in 2008. Employment of 43,000 coal miners is down from a peak of 883,000 in 1923. Generation of electricity is the largest user of coal, being used to produce 50% of electric power in 2005 and 27% in 2018. The U.S. is a net exporter of coal. U.S. coal exports, for which Europe is the largest customer, peaked in 2012. In 2015, the U.S. exported 7.0 percent of mined coal.
The history of coal mining in the United States starts with the first commercial use in 1701, within the Manakin-Sabot area of Richmond, Virginia. Coal was the dominant power source in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and although in rapid decline it remains a significant source of energy in 2024.
The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster occurred on April 5, 2010, roughly 1,000 feet (300 m) underground in Raleigh County, West Virginia at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine located in Montcoal. 29 out of 31 at the site were killed. The coal dust explosion occurred at 3:27 pm. The incident was the worst in the United States since 1970, when 38 miners were killed at Finley Coal Company's No. 15 and 16 mines in Hyden, Kentucky. A state funded independent investigation later found Massey Energy directly responsible for the blast.
The Raspadskaya Coal Mine is a coal mine located in Mezhdurechensk, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia. It is the largest coal and the largest underground mine in Russia. The mine was opened in 1973 and its construction was completed in 1977. In addition to the main underground mine, the mining complex also includes MUK-96 underground mine, Raspadskaya Koksovaya underground mine, and Razrez Raspadsky open-pit mine, as also the Raspadskaya preparation plant. The mine is the largest coal mine in Russia.
American Consolidated Natural Resources, previously known as Murray Energy, is a US-based coal mining company. It is the fourth largest coal producer in the country, and the largest privately-owned coal company. Founded in 1988 by Robert E. Murray, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2019. The company gained notoriety following the collapse of the Crandall Canyon Mine in 2007, following a number of citations and fines for safety practices at the site.