Hampton Mine

Hampton Mine is an 1,800 acre coal mining operation in Pulaski County, Virginia, proposed and owned by Arch Coal.

Deal reached with local school
In a deal reached on October 20, 2011, Arch Coal Inc. agreed not to mine under Buckhannon-Upshur High School and the proposed site of a middle school. In exchange, the school board said it will drop objections it had filed to the permit application before the state Department of Environmental Protection. The board fought for months to stop the mining plan created by International Coal Group before it was bought out by St. Louis-based Arch. Board members worried the 1,800-acre Hampton Mine would cause the ground beneath the school to subside and create the possibility of explosive methane gas leaking into its buildings.

ICG and subsidiary Wolf Run Mining Co. had been seeking permits for the Hampton Deep Mine in Buckhannon, targeting the 52-inch thick Middle Kittanning coal seam. Application documents show the company expects the 500- to 600-feet deep seam to produce about 1 million tons of coal a year for eight years. In its 22-page objection, the school board said that ICG had long promised its operation would not undermine or otherwise affect the district’s facilities, and said it learned otherwise through a legal advertisement outlining the mining plan — after the borad had spent $600,000 acquiring 114 acres next to the high school for a new $32 million middle school.

The Hampton Mine would come close to the reserves at ICG’s Sago Mine, which was closed after 12 men died after an explosion and prolonged entrapment in January 2006, although the Buckhannon River stands between the two operations.

Mine Data

 * MSHA ID:	1501406
 * Operator:
 * Controller:	Arch Coal
 * Union:	SEA
 * County:		Pulaski
 * State:		VA
 * Latitude:	37.1926236
 * Longitude:	-80.6664536
 * Annual Production (short tons): 1 million tons (projected)
 * Coal Type:
 * Mining Method:
 * Mine Status:	Active
 * Average No. of Employees:

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