At Colowyo mine, mining is carried out utilizing truck/shovel, dragline and highwall mining techniques.
Colowyo commenced surface mining in 1977 and has mined from four distinct pits during the life of the existing operation. As current mining operations in the South Taylor pit are being completed and land is being reclaimed, Colowyo Coal is continuing to develop and actively mine the Collom pit at the Colowyo Mine to access coal reserves for future production.
Collom pit (Little Collom X and Collom Lite Pits) project is an expansion of the existing Colowyo Coal Mine. Coal production from the Collom pit began in July 2019. Coal seams that would be mined via truck/shovel, dragline, and highwall miner techniques.
A total of 13 coal seams occur within the Project Area. In descending order (the order in which they would be mined) they are: X3, X4, D1, D2, D12, FA, FB, G7, G8, G9, GA, and GB. These coal seams have been categorized into five composite units: X34, D12, FAB, G789, and GAB. The X34 unit occurs within the top portions of the ridges at the Collom Pit and averages approximately nine feet thick. The D12 unit averages approximately 11 feet thick. The FAB and G789 units are thick seams that constitute a large percentage of the coal in the Project Area. The GAB unit resides at the base of the proposed mining sequence, with variable thickness (KEC 2005).
Colowyo anticipates mining a maximum of approximately 5.1 mtpy with operation ........