By Carol McIntire
Editor
March 17, 2009
The future of economic development in Carroll County seems to be in underground mining.
The second of three firms filing, or planning to file permits for new underground facilities visited Carroll County Commissioners Monday.
Gary Alkire, an employee of Buckeye Industrial Mining, outlined the company’s plans for a new underground and strip mine in Rose Twp. Officials with Rosebud Coal Company recently unveiled plans for a new mine in Union Twp. Leesville Land LLC has also filed a permit with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to mine 29.2 acres of surface coal and 10,508.5 acres of underground coal in Harrison, Tuscarawas and Carroll counties.
Alkire said the surface mine will encompass 55 acres of surface mining and 2,500 acre of #6 underground coal. Alkire said the high wall created by surface mining will be used as an entrance to the deep coal. “The surface mining will expose the coal at about 80 to 90 feet and we will go in at the level,” Alkire said. “The average depth of the coal is about 200 feet and the coal seam is approximately 43-inches deep,” he said.
Entrance to the mine will be off Heritage Rd. about 1,000 feet from its intersection with SR 542. “We will travel SR 542 to Magnolia on our way to Kensington to the wash facility (which Buckeye Industrial owns),” he said, adding the company also has proposed a coal processing plant in Jefferson County near Bergholz.
The company plans to use the room and pillar single unit system of mining, the same as Rosebud Coal plans to utilize. They have a training program in place and said they would like to have as many local people as possible. “We need both skilled and unskilled workers,” he said, adding they will employ about 50 people. He anticipates it will take about five years to mine the coal the company already owns.
Commissioner Tom Wheaton asked about the possibility of the company purchasing additional coal in the area to extend the life of the mine and Alkire responded, “yes, it’s possible.”
Wheaton advised Alkire of Carroll County Connections, located in the Department of Job and Family Services, which can accept applications for employment and screen prospective employees. He will provide information to the company.
The company, headquartered at Lisbon, operates five surface mines in Carroll, Stark and Columbiana counties and an underground mine in Jefferson County. They employ 150 people. The company hopes to open the new Rose Twp. mine sometime in 2010. |
