Coal: The Choice for the Future

The surface mine opened in March 2005 and employs 42 miners and 13 contractors. The mine produces 900,000 tons per year with reserves of about 35 million tons.

Sulfur content ranges from 2.8 percent to 3.2 percent with ash at 10 percent. It burns at 11,200 BTUs. The coal is cleaned at an adjacent 500 tons-per-hour, heavy-media wash plant. Dozers are used to uncover coal that comes from the Illinois #5 and #6 seams.

In August 2005, a Superior Highwall Miner came online featuring trench mining techniques. It is the first time this type of technology was employed in Southern Illinois coal fields and it enables Knight Hawk to recover marginal strip/underground coal without significantly impacting surface property.

In July 2006, an underground mine opened. It employs 90 miners and produces 1.8 million tons annually.