Jacobs Ranch Mine

Jacobs Ranch Mine employs 603 people as of December 31, 2006 and is located fifteen miles southeast of Wright, Wyoming in the southern portion of the Powder River Basin. Rio Tinto Energy America acquired the 9,284 acre permitted area from Kerr-McGee Coal Corporation in 1998. In 2001, Jacobs Ranch was the successful bidder for the North Jacobs coal lease tract and added 537 million tons of in-place coal to the reserve. In early 2009, Rio Tinto reached an agreement to sell the Jacobs Ranch mine to Arch Coal for $761 million. Arch Coal will combine the mine with its Black Thunder Mine.

Up to three seams of coal are mined from two pits at Jacobs Ranch: Upper, Middle and Lower Wyodak. The Wyodak seam is the principal economic coal seam in the Wyoming portion of the Powder River Basin, with an average thickness of 11 feet. The Middle Wyodak has an average thickness of 42 feet while the Lower Wyodak averages 5 feet. The typical average quality of the coal at Jacob’s is 8,750 Btu subbituminous coal.

Jacobs Ranch is permitted to produce 55 million tons of coal a year. Coal mined from Jacobs Ranch is shipped primarily to the midwestern and southeastern United States.

Mine Data

 * MSHA ID:	4800997
 * Operator:	Jacobs Ranch Coal Company
 * Controller:	Arch Coal
 * Union:
 * County:	Campbell
 * State:	WY
 * Latitude:	43.72
 * Longitude:	-105.23
 * 2007 Production (short tons):	38,101,560
 * Coal Type:	Bituminous
 * Mining Method:	Surface
 * Mine Status:	Active
 * Average No. of Employees:	 609

Related SourceWatch articles
To see a listing of coal mines in a particular state, click on the map:
 * Coal and jobs in the United States
 * Coal phase-out
 * Headquarters of U.S. coal mining companies
 * Global list of coal mining companies and agencies
 * Wyoming and coal
 * Proposed coal mines
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Coal