Coal - Operations and Strategy
| Mid-Vol permitting new West Virginia mine |  |
November 04, 2009 4:37 PM ET
By Barry Cassell
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The Mid-Vol Coal Sales Inc. unit of international steel giant ArcelorMittal has an application working at the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection on a permit for a new room-and-pillar mine in McDowell County, W.Va. The DEP said in a Nov. 4 public notice that the application for the permit, No. U401409, has been marked technically complete, which means all the necessary information has been provided and it is ready for processing. The application for an Article 3 permit covers the surface disturbance of approximately 4.1 acres to face up a deep mine and construct drainage control near McDowell County Route 15/11, with the mine to work the Pocahontas No. 4 seam of coal. DEP records show that the application was filed Aug. 5 for the No. 4 room-and-pillar mine. It is one of nine mine permit applications that Mid-Vol Coal Sales has filed with the DEP since May 5, bringing to 11 the number of total pending applications for the company. Seven of the pending applications cover surface mines, and the remaining four are for deep mines, including the No. 4 job. The most recent permit issued to Mid-Vol was issued Oct. 20 for the Low Gap valley fill in McDowell County. ArcelorMittal acquired Mid-Vol in mid-2008 in an effort to nail down a firm supply of metallurgical coal at a time of soaring demand and prices for that coal in a hot world steel market that cooled off quickly with the global economic downturn. But various U.S. met coal producers, including leader Alpha Natural Resources Inc., are reporting resurgent demand and pricing for met coal. | 
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