From Deseret News archives:

Utah's largest coal producer cuts mining short

Published: Saturday, July 26, 2008 11:14 a.m. MDT
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Utah's largest coal producer will bypass $100 million of coal to avoid the kind of danger that led to the collapse at Crandall Canyon.

Arch Coal Inc. decided to pull back where a coal seam dips nearly 3,000 feet underground.

The Utah Geological Survey says St. Louis-based Arch Coal is sacrificing 4 million tons of coal at the Dugout mine in Carbon County for safety.

A ton of coal sells for about $26.

Dugout still has plenty of other coal that can be mined. Arch plans to continue longwall mining there until 2015, following by a couple of years of retreat mining, said Michael Vanden Berg of the Utah Geological Survey.

Retreat mining — taking down pillars in a controlled collapse — can be risky. Federal regulators in a report issued Thursday said the operators of Crandall Canyon cut into load-bearing coal pillars, bringing down a large section of the mine.

The Aug. 6 collapse trapped six miners whose bodies haven't been recovered. Three others were killed during a rescue attempt.

Utah geologists say Arch Coal is taking precautions in longwall mining to avoid mountain "bounces" that plagued Crandall Canyon.

The company wasn't immediately available Friday for comment.

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Crandall Canyon was sealed off after last summer's twin disasters. In April, the same operator closed another central Utah mine, the 2,750-foot-deep Tower mine, because of "unusual stress conditions" on mine pillars there.

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