Gateway Mine in Randolph County near Coulterville, Ill., opened in March 2005 and started production in July. In 2007, the mine sold 2.7 million tons of steam coal, primarily to major utility and industrial customers such as Northern Indiana Power Service Company (NIPSCO), Tampa Electric and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). The mine has 20 million tons of recoverable coal reserves.

 

The mine's 220 employees operate seven days a week, year round, with three production shifts per day on two supersection units to extract coal from the Herrin No. 6 seam. The coal goes from the mine via a 1,200-foot beltline to temporary storage and then travels by overland belt 1.4 miles to the preparation plant.

 

The preparation plant cleans the coal using heavy media cyclones. After cleaning, it is stored in a 10,000-ton silo and a 50,000-ton above-ground storage/loadout facility before shipping to customers. Coal bound for NIPSCO and ADM is shipped in 125-car unit trains. Coal sold to Tampa Electric travels via train to a Mississippi River dock, where it is transloaded onto barges.

 

Gateway Mine is operated by Black Beauty Coal, the largest coal producer in the Illinois Basin. Black Beauty is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal company, with 2007 sales of 238 million tons of coal and $4.6 billion in revenues. Its coal products fuel approximately 10 percent of all U.S. electricity and more than 2 percent of worldwide electricity. The company is serving global coal demand from electricity generators and steelmakers, and is growing to serve new global customers and emerging Btu Conversion markets.