Mining Intelligence and News
United States

Hamilton #1 Mine

Click for more information

Categories

Summary

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Coal (thermal)
Mining Method
  • Longwall
  • Continuous
  • Room-and-pillar
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe Hamilton mine is an underground longwall mining operation producing medium/high-sulfur coal.

Hamilton has approximately 23,000 underground acres and 1,300 surface acres permitted. The mine property is controlled through both fee ownership and leases of the coal.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Alliance Resource Partners L.P. 100 % Indirect
Hamilton County Coal LLC (operator) 100 % Direct
Hamilton County Coal, LLC (HCC) owns and operates Hamilton Mine (Hamilton). HCC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alliance Coal, LLC (Alliance).

Contractors

Lock

- subscription is required.

Deposit type

  • Sedimentary

Summary:

HCC extracts coal from the Herrin (Illinois No. 6) coal seam located in the Illinois Basin. The Illinois Basin is an interior cratonic basin that formed from numerous subsidence and uplift events. The Illinois Basin extends approximately 80, 000 square miles, covering Illinois, southern Indiana, and western Kentucky.

Primary coal-bearing strata, including the Herrin and Springfield (Illinois No 5) seams, are in formations of Pennsylvanian aged rocks, which were deposited about 325 to 290 million years ago. The Pennsylvanian System is characterized by many vertical changes in lithology. There are over five hundred distinct beds of shale, sandstone, sandy shale, limestone, and coal in the Pennsylvanian System in Illinois. Many beds are laterally extensive and can be correlated across much of the Illinois Basin because of their position in relation to distinct marker beds, such as coals and limestones.

Pennsylvanian rocks in Hamilton County consist of shale, sandstone, siltstone, coal, and limestone. Pennsylvanian rocks are classified in Illinois in three groups, the McCormick, the Kewanee, and the McLeansboro. The Kewanee Group contains the most abundant reserves of coal. Within the Kewanee Group is the Carbondale formation. The Herrin and Springfield belong to this formation.

Local Geology
Herrin Seam:
The immediate roof over a vast majority of the reserve is a black, fissile shale known as the Anna Shale. The Anna Shale is generally between one to two feet thick but can thicken to eight feet in some areas. The Anna Shale is overlain by a dark gray, fine grained, argillaceous limestone known as the Brereton Limestone. This limestone is commonly four to five feet thick. In some locations, this limestone is absent. This limestone member is critical in providing roof stability at Hamilton. The Energy Shale, a silty gray shale associated with over bank deposits of the Walshville paleochannel, can form the immediate roof in localized areas. The Energy Shale occurs in lenses and can cause roof instability, requiring additional support.

Springfield Seam:
The silty, gray Dykersburg Shale, ranges from zero to about four feet thick, and forms the immediate roof of the Springfield seam. When the Dykersburg Shale is absent, it is replaced by the black, brittle, Turner Mine Shale, which ranges from about one to three feet thick in the HCC resource area. The thin, argillaceous St. David Limestone lies above the Turner Mine Shale, ranging from zero to about three feet in thickness. The gray, silty Canton Shale separates the St. David Limestone from the Briar Hill (5a) coal seam and Vermillionville Sandstone. The Vermillionville Sandstone occurs in two distinct units which are separated by a shale or sandy shale zone. This water bearing sandstone can encroach on the immediate and main roof of the Springfield seam. In these areas, ground control issues associated with water and differential compaction can occur requiring additional support to maintain roof stability.

Property Geology and Mineralization
Hamilton extracts coal from the Herrin seam. The seam lies between about 600 and 1100 feet deep across the resource/reserve area and dips gently to the east/southeast. The seam varies in thickness from about 5 feet to 9 feet. On a 1.60 float, dry basis, the Herrin seam averages approximately 8.2% ash, 2.8% sulfur, and 13,375 btu/lb. The Herrin seam mineral deposit type (coal rank) is a high volatile bituminous B/C coal.

The Springfield seam underlies the Herrin seam by approximately 100 feet. This seam is extensively mined throughout the Illinois basin. On a 1.60 float, dry basis, the Springfield seam averages approximately 8.4% ash, 2.5% sulfur, and 13,400 btu/lb. The Springfield seam mineral deposit type (coal rank) is a high volatile bituminous B/C coal.

The primary coal-bearing strata is of Carboniferous age in the Pennsylvanian system.

The geologic model developed to characterize the resource/reserve is a bedded sedimentary deposit model. This is generally described as a continuous, non-complex, typical cyclothem sequence that follows a bedded sedimentary sequence. The geology, including coal thickness and extent has been and continues to be verified by an extensive drilling program.

Reserves

Lock

- subscription is required.

Mining Methods

Lock

- subscription is required.

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Lock

- subscription is required.

EV - Electric

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

Lock

- subscription is required.

Commodity Production

CommodityUnits2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Coal (thermal) Mt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe5.45.75.52.75.3
All production numbers are expressed as clean coal.

Operational metrics

Metrics202520242023202220212020201920182017
Coal tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe12,383 k tons12,852 k tons12,132 k tons
Hourly processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2,000 tons2,000 tons2,000 tons
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe12,331,648 tons12,887,668 tons
^ Guidance / Forecast.

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Mine Financials

Units2024202320222021
Book Value M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 13, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 13, 2025

Workforce

EmployeesYear
...... Subscription required 2024
...... Subscription required 2023
...... Subscription required 2022
...... Subscription required 2021
...... Subscription required 2020
...... Subscription required 2019
...... Subscription required 2018
...... Subscription required 2017
...... Subscription required 2016
...... Subscription required 2015
...... Subscription required 2014
...... Subscription required 2013

Aerial view:

Lock

- subscription is required.