Operation employs 325 people with the potential to grow to 500.
By ANTHONY A. MESTAS | anthonym@chieftain.com | Posted: Sunday, October 9, 2011 12:00 am
TRINIDAD — Gov. John Hickenlooper has scheduleda tour Monday of the newly reopened New Elk Mine west oftown.
The company said the underground mine employs 325 people with thepotential to grow to 500.
Officials said the mine will have significant economic benefitsfor Trinidad and also will generate royalty payments for ColoradoParks and Wildlife, which owns surface and minerals at the Bosquedel Oso State Wildlife Refuge Area.
"The governor is always welcome here. We are looking forward toexplaining our operation to him and to give him a chance to meetour employees," said Ron Thompson, mine manager.
The mine is producing coal, but is not fully operational yet,Thompson said.
"We are mining coal but we are still in the construction phase,"he said.
Toronto-based Cline Mining Corp. purchased the mine in 2009.
The company estimates that when fully operational, the mine willproduce 300 million tons of coal a year, roughly three trainloads aweek.
The New Elk Mine was opened in 1951 by CF&I Steel Co. toprovide metallurgical coking coal for its blast furnace iron andsteel production plant in Pueblo.
In 1981, Wyoming Fuels purchased the mine and operated it until1989. The coal preparation plant continued operating with coal fromother nearby mines until 1996.
The mine will produce metallurgical coal that primarily will beexported to Asian countries, including Japan, Korea and China.
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