Black Castle Coal Mine

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Black Castle Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in West Virginia, United States.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Black Castle Coal Mine West Virginia, United States 38.01, -81.57 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

Loading map...

Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status Status Detail Opening Year Closing Year
Operating

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.
Capacity (Mtpa) Production (Mtpa) Year of Production Mine Type Mining Method Mine Size (km2) Mine Depth (m) Workforce Size
0.1279130427[1] 2023[1] Surface Open Pit 75* 19[1]

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt) Year of Total Reserves Recorded Total Resources (Mt) Coalfield Coal Type Coal Grade Primary Consumer/ Destination
Appalachia Bituminous

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner Parent Company Headquarters
Contura Energy Contura Energy USA

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

ROM or Saleable 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
ROM 1.451[2] 0.998[2] 0.581[2] 0.091[2] 0.001[2] 0.054[2] 0.127[2]

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September and December supplements.

Background

Black Castle Surface Mine is a surface coal mine located near Sylvester, in Boone County, West Virginia. The mine is operated by Black Castle Mining Co., a subsidiary of Massey Energy. The mine had 252 workers, operating six days per week and producing an average of 11,700 tons of coal daily from six separate pits.[3]

In April 2009 Massey idled the Mine, citing "market conditions." A skeleton crew is currently keeping the mine going. Massey Energy Executives plan to take a look at the overall mine plan. The goal is to continue to bring small groups of workers back as demand increases.[4] In June 2012 Alpha said it was scaling back production at the Black Castle Surface Mine as well as the Republic Surface Mine, due to a declining 2012 export market for Europe.[5]

  • MSHA ID: 4607009
  • Operator: Black Castle Mining
  • Controller: Massey Energy Company
  • Union:
  • County: Boone
  • State: WV
  • GPS Coordinates: 38.01, -81.57
  • 2007 Production (short tons): 1,337,541
  • Coal Type: Bituminous
  • Mining Method: Underground
  • Mine Status: Active
  • Average No. of Employees: 101

Contact Details

Black Castle Mining Co.
Sylvester, West Virginia

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20240213175031/https://www.msha.gov/data-and-reports/statistics/mine-employment-and-coal-production. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 https://web.archive.org/web/20240717193400/https://www.msha.gov/data-and-reports/mine-data-retrieval-system. Archived from the original on 17 July 2024. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "Coal Mine Fatal Accident Investigation Report", Mine Safety and Health Administration website, February 1, 2006
  4. Amanda Barren, "Massey Energy Idles Black Castle Mine, 300 Affected" WSAZ 3 News Channel, April 10, 2009
  5. Vicki Smith, "Alpha set to close 2 W.Va. mines, cut back at others," Associated Press, June 28, 2012.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.

References