Mining Intelligence and News
United States

Horning Mine

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Categories

Summary

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusTemporary Suspension
Commodities
  • Coal (metallurgical)
Mining Method
  • Continuous
  • Room-and-pillar
Production Start... Lock
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SnapshotThe Horning (Horning Deep) mine with a single production section.

During 2023, Corsa excluded the Horning Area Upper Freeport resource due to adverse property control that divides the resource.

On January 6, 2025, the owner of the mine, Corsa Coal Corp., initiated bankruptcy proceedings. Corsa Coal auctioned its assets to pay creditors. This included the sale of two preparation facilities located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania: the Cambria plant and the Shade Creek coal preparation plant, where coal was processed from the Horning mine.

In late March 2025, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection stated that the Horning mine would inevitably be closed and emphasized the need to temporarily seal it.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Corsa Coal Corp. 100 % Indirect
RoxCoal, Inc. (operator) 100 % Direct
Corsa Coal indirectly owns Horning through RoxCoal, Inc.

On January 6, 2025, the owner of the mine, Corsa Coal Corp., initiated bankruptcy proceedings.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Sedimentary

Summary:

Geology of the Properties
The geology of the properties is consistent with regional structural trends. In Maryland, the local Casselman synclinal fold is evident in the Casselman mine. Coal seams of economic importance on the properties typically range from 1 foot to 6 feet in thickness and are primarily low-volatile in rank. There are 11 coal seams on the properties that demonstrate reserve or resource potential including, in descending stratigraphic order: Sewickley, Redstone, Pittsburgh, Bakerstown, Upper Freeport, Lower Freeport, Upper Kittanning, Middle Kittanning, Lower Kittanning, Brookville, and Mercer.

Mineralization
Mineable coal seams within the properties are typically low-ash, low to high-sulfur, and high-thermal content bituminous coals. Regionally, the coals are typically low-volatile in rank, with rank increasing from west to east. The maximum seam thickness may reach over 6.0 feet where multiple coal benches occur in proximity to one another; however, the average mineable thickness of the seams in this evaluation generally ranges from 1 foot to 4 feet. Seams are generally continuous but may be locally absent. Secondary discontinuity due to erosional features is present in most areas, resulting in seam outcropping, or visible exposure of the seam at the surface. Other than oxidation of the coal exposed at the surface, erosion of the seams has no significant impact on the mineralized deposits. Mineable seams associated with the properties are generally outcrop-accessible. Coal seams are characterized by both single-bench and multiple-bench coal horizons with parting (non-coal) material varying by seam and area. Seam parting is common within the coal seams on the properties with intra-seam parting material increasing drastically in some areas. Roof strata are typically shale or sandy shale with zones of sandstone roof being common. Floor strata are typically sandstone, shale, sandy shale, fireclay, or in the case of the Upper Kittanning, limestone.

Limestone beds occur within the various stratigraphic groups of the region. Some of these limestone beds are extracted in conjunction with surface mining of the Sewickley coal in particular.

Coal Seams of Interest
Horning – Lower Freeport Seam
Horning D is an active underground mine producing metallurgical-grade coal operating one continuous miner section. The property consists of owned and leased coal with lesser areas of internal uncontrolled coal, and it is fully permitted. The mine plans have been extended further north toward Schrock Run into an area that, in the 2014 TR, identified an existing underground mine in the Lower Freeport seam. Further review by Corsa, along with drilling, reveals that if this mine exists in this location it is not in the Lower Freeport or overlying seams. Average seam thickness is 2.9 feet.

Deposit Types
The coal reserves reported herein are bituminous coals. The primary coal-bearing formations on the properties are Carboniferous in age, being in the Pennsylvanian system, which includes the Monongahela, Conemaugh, Allegheny, and Pottsville groups. The average mineable seam thickness for coal horizons in these formations ranges from 1 foot to over 6 feet. The coal seams are generally continuous and non-complex but may vary in thickness and may also be locally absent. Seams retain normal stratigraphic sequence throughout the properties and no evidence has been observed that seams have been modified from pre-deformational thicknesses.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityUnits2024202320222021202020192018
Coal (metallurgical) tons  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe181,00032,616
All production numbers are expressed as clean coal.

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Aerial view:

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