Usibelli Coal Mine Expands Reserves

 

HEALY - Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc. has performed a property wide reassessment of all available geologic data to obtain a current estimate of coal reserves on its leases in the Nenana Coal Field near Healy, Alaska.  This assessment includes data from hundreds of exploration drill holes, outcrop mapping, production data and other pertinent geologic information.  This effort has identified a surface mineable reserve base of approximately 700 million tons, of which, 450 million can be classified as proven and 250 million as probable.  Some of the reserve areas are open ended and future exploration work and analysis is expected to increase the total figure to near one billion tons.

All of the reserves at Usibelli’s Healy operations are Sub-bituminous C rank coal.  Typical as-mined analysis is 7,650 Btu/lb (4,250 kcal/kg), 28 percent moisture, 9 percent ash and 0.2 percent sulfur.  In addition to very low sulfur content, Healy coal is also low in mercury and other trace elements of concern, making it one of the cleanest burning coals in the world.

The coal reserves on Usibelli leases are well positioned to address opportunities for new clean coal technology initiatives, such as coal to liquids production, and projected expansion in coal demand from the Pacific basin.  Usibelli’s operations are located adjacent to the Alaska Railroad, which provides year round rail shipping capability to the ice free port in Seward, Alaska, where a Usibelli affiliate, Aurora Energy Services, LLC, operates the coal terminal for the Alaska Railroad Corporation.  Also, the mine’s proximity to the regional power grid facilitates low cost, mine mouth power production, capable of serving Alaska’s Railbelt region, where the majority of Alaska’s population resides.

According to Joseph E. Usibelli Jr., For most of our history we have been content to assess and report reserves required to cover our existing markets for about 30 years.  Recent initiatives requiring several times our current demand have pointed to the need to expand our focus to evaluate the total reserve picture throughout our lease holdings.  The results show that we are well positioned to address major increases in future demand for our coal.

The company’s address is PO Box 1000, Healy, AK 99743, (907) 683-2226, fax: (907) 683-2253.