Southern Illinois Mines

Monterey Mine No.1

Owner

Monterey Coal Company

Mine Contact

H.C. Schulz, General Manager, (217) 854-3291, RR 4, Box 235, Carlinville, IL 62626

Rail Loading Point

Approximately 5 miles south of Carlinville

Mine Background

Monterey Coal Company's No. 1 mine is an underground mine, using the longwall mining method. Longwall mining utilizes an electrically powered shearer to "shear" the coal from the working face. Rotating drums at each end of the production machine are equipped with carbide cutting bits. Operation involves driving the rotating cutting drums into the coal seam while moving along a mobile face conveyor. The mined coal falls from the drums onto a face conveyor. Hydraulic roof supports, which protect the personnel and equipment, advance after each shear, allowing the strata above the seam to subside in a controlled manner.

Development of mining panels for the longwall is done utilizing the continuous mining method. Two mining units each consist of one continuous miner, two double-boom roof bolters, one feeder/breaker, two or three shuttle cars (haulage units), and auxiliary support equipment.

Coal is loaded onto conveyor belts near the mine face after being crushed to a nominal 10-inch size, and transported out of the mine to the rotary breaker, which further sizes the coal to six-inch size. Coal is processed through a preparation plant consisting of a separation process which uses water and air to exploit specific gravity differences between coal and other material. Recently, a fine coal cleaning circuit was added incorporating a hydrocyclone process. Impurities in the coal are removed via the preparation plant washing process.

The cleaned coal is conveyed to two storage silos or an open coal stockpile, with a total capacity of approximately 350,000 tons. The coal is loaded into trains of up to 100 cars at a rate of 3,500 tons per hour. Coal is weighed by certified scales, and sampling is performed by an ASTM approved three-stage automatic sampler.

The mine shipped 2.7M tons in 1997. Design capacity of the mine is 3+ million tons annually. Wage employees are represented by United Mine Workers of America, Local 1613.

Mine Type

Underground/Longwall

Recoverable Reserves

Approximately 40 million tons of low/mid-sulphur coal; over 40 million tons of high-sulphur coal.

Annual Production (1997)

2.9 million tons

Current Annual Production Capacity

3+ million tons

Rail Loading Point Storage Capacity

Two 12,000-ton silos and one 350,000-ton stockpile

Loadout Description and/or Configuration

High-speed conveyor into over-track surge bin. Railcars flood loaded from surge bin.

Weighing System

Certified Ramsey belt scale

Loading Rate per Hour

3,500 tons

Storage Recharge Rate

3,500 tons

Load Track Configuration and Capacity

Rail loop connected to the main line; up to 100-car capacity

Train Loading Capacity

Train loading takes from 3-4 hours

Maximum Cars per Train

100 cars

Washing Capability

1,300 tons per hour throughput

Coal Specifications

Bituminous, 10,300 Btu/lb. 1.0% Sulphur