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mine production that year was 283,211 tons. The 2000 production rate after the first quarter <br />indicates the total production for the mine would be about 160,00-0 tons/vear. The ideal yearly <br />production for NKC would be. 300,000 tons per year in order to meet financial cash flow demands <br />for the operation. <br />Life ofMine - The recoverable reserves currently available to the King Coal mine operation include <br />1.6 M tons of federal coal and'U.3 M tons of fee coal which total about 1.9 million tons and would <br />provide about 6.3 years of expected mine life at the 300,000 tpy production rate. <br />Manpower - The current manpower level averages about 33 people. A recent layoff has reduced the <br />manpower to the lower level but this is considered to be a temporary situation, awaiting greater <br />market demand for the coal and increasing the manpower level up to 50 employees.. <br />Coal sales for 1999 expressed as a percentage are as follows: <br />1. <br />Cement Production <br />80% <br />2. <br />Electric Utilities <br />11% <br />3. <br />Domestic <br />4% <br />4. <br />Tourist Trains*- <br />2% <br />5. <br />Other <br />3% <br />*As a note of interest, National King Coal supplies the narrow gauge railroads (tourist trains) in <br />,rte Durango, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico. <br />Coal produced by National King Coal is trucked to markets in New Mc�cico, Arizona, and Colorado. <br />This is done utilizing the services of thirty -ton trucks provided by three major and several <br />independent operators. These trucks are operated by a force of approximately 28 drivers. Coal is <br />hauled traveling from County Road 120 east of the King Coal mine site and Colorado State Highway <br />140 south of Hay Gulch on to regional markets. The mine also supplies coal for residential heating <br />to local customers who pick it up in their own trucks or have it delivered to their homes. <br />II. DESCRIPTION OF THE ALTERNATIVES <br />Alternative 1 - Proposed Action <br />The proposed action is to issue coal lease COC 62920 which contains approximately 1,304.51 acres <br />of coal bed 1 reserves. The estimated recoverable coal reserves for coal bed 1 within the lease <br />application area is 7.05 M tons (5,209 tons per total tract acre). This proposed lease application area <br />would be mined as an expansion of the existing National King Coal mine. This would add about 23.5 <br />years to the life of NKC's mining operations at the projected 300K ton per year production rate. <br />Actual years of operation could last over an extended time since coal production from the King Coal <br />mine logical mining unit (LW - with fee and federal lease reserves) could be realized in <br />conjunction with production from the East Alkali Tract at the end of the life of mine of the King <br />Coalmine. Mining in the proposed lease application area and ;n the adjacent Livia and icase5 COliiu <br />take approximately 30 years (Mine Life). The manpower requirements will remain approximately <br />the same at 30 to 50 employees.. <br />4 <br />