Jacobs Ranch is a large
open-pit
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow.
This form of mining ...
coal mine
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
located 15 miles southeast of
Wright, Wyoming in the coal-rich
Powder River Basin
The Powder River Basin is a geologic structural basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its extensive coal reserves. The former hunting grounds of the Oglala Lakota, the area is very s ...
.
In 2007, the mine produced 38.1 million
short tons of coal, making it the fourth-largest coal mine by production in the United States.
Information
Until 2009 the Jacobs Ranch mine was owned by
Rio Tinto Energy America
Rio Tinto Energy America (RTEA) was a wholly owned American subsidiary of the England and Australia-based mining giant, the Rio Tinto Group, headquartered in Gillette, Wyoming, United States. The company, previously known as Kennecott Energy after ...
, an American-based subsidiary of the international mining giant
Rio Tinto Group.
In early 2009, Rio Tinto reached an agreement to sell the Jacobs Ranch mine to
Arch Coal
Arch Resources, previously known as Arch Coal, is an American coal mining and processing company. The company mines, processes, and markets bituminous and sub-bituminous coal with low sulfur content in the United States. Arch Resources is the se ...
for $761 million.
References
Mines in Campbell County, Wyoming
Former Rio Tinto (corporation) subsidiaries
Mines in Wyoming
Coal mines in the United States
{{energy-stub