September 23-25, 2014 Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, NV USA Five Incredible Conference Tracks. One Great Show. IMEX2014 is a New Kind of Mining Event. Register Today and Save! Visit Our Website Now for Early Bird Pricing PRESENTED BY WWW.IMEX2014.COM CA_FC_CLA_MMI 7/10/14 10:47 AM Page FC1 CA_IFC_CA_IFC 7/10/14 10:28 AM Page IFC1 CA_pg01_V2_CA_pg01 7/11/14 3:12 PM Page 1 JULY 2014 VOL. 119 NO. 7 FEATURE ARTICLES ROOM-AND-PILLAR MINING/28 24 Upper Midwest Coal Deliveries Up; Rail Issues Hit PRB Especially Hard 28 Room and Pillar: Eyeing the Future The latest in equipment, technology and consumables 34 Coal Age Buyers Guide 2014 42 Running Right: A Piece of Pi Alpha Natural Resources takes its safety program Running Right to heart, especially in the operation of preparation plants PIT DEWATERING/48 PRODUCT NEWS/56 48 The Pump Maker’s Perspective Pumps play an essential role in mining and mineral processing. Coal Age sought the views of two of the world’s major manufacturers on how the technology is developing. COAL IN THE NEWS 4 CONSOL Energy Dedicates BMX Mine in Honor of Harvey 4 MSHA Targets Rhino Eagle 3 6 Cordero Rojo Marks Billion-ton Milestone THIS ISSUE 8 Cliffs to Idle Pinnacle Mine 10 Patriot Investigating Prep Plant Outage This month, Coal Age digs in to the room-and-pillar sector with the latest 12 White Oak Prepares for Longwall Startup in technology for equipment, as well as the future of consumable supplies. It also features the 2014 Buyers Guide on page 34, which lists more than 14 FBI Indicts 9 in Fake Coal Company Scheme 500 companies that market equipment and services to the coal industry. 16 MSHA Spotlights Roof Fall Prevention in Summer Alert On the cover, a miner keeps a close eye on a roof bolter. (Photo courtesy of Kennametal.) 18 Big Rivers Retains Capacity at DB Wilson 19 Atlantic Sees Buoyant Anthracite Market DEPARTMENTS 2 Editorial 4 Coal in the News WORLD NEWS 5 World News 12 People 5 Indian Coal Imports Rise With Heat Wave 13 Dateline Washington 6 Indonesia’s Bumi Sells to CIC to Reduce Debt 14 Calendar 15 Awards 8 India Assigns Task Force to Monitor Coal Mafia 20 Marketwatch 10 Verdicts Announced in Wales Manslaughter Trial 24 Transport Tips 52 Operating Ideas 54 Suppliers News 56 Product News 61 Classified 64 Legally Speaking July 2014 www.coalage.com 1 CA_pg02-03_CA_pg02 7/11/14 1:21 PM Page 2 editor’s note Skeptics Gather in Las Vegas www.mining-media.com uring early July, the Heartland Institute hosted the Ninth Mining Media International DInternational Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) in Las Editorial Office Vegas. A total of 64 speakers — mostly scientists, economists and 11555 Central Parkway, Suite 401 policy experts from around the world who are skeptical about the Jacksonville, Florida 32224 U.S.A. claims of global warming alarmists — gave presentations. These Phone: +1.904.721.2925 Fax: +1.904.721.2930 professionals and many others, including the Heartland Institute, Editor-in-Chief—Steve Fiscor, [email protected] think the threat of man-made global warming is being overblown. Western Field Editor—Russ Carter, [email protected] These are the scientists supporting our business. Field Editor—Donna Schmidt, [email protected] This year’s ICCC was co-sponsored by 32 organizations. In his BY STEVE FISCOR European Editor—Simon Walker, [email protected] / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF opening address, Heartland Institute President Joseph Bast recog- Latin American Editor—Oscar Martinez, [email protected] nized the Media Research Center, Cornwall Alliance, Science and News Editor, Mining—Joseph W. Kirschke, [email protected] Environmental Policy Project, Heritage Foundation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Assistant Editor—Jennifer Jensen, [email protected] CFACT, and the George C. Marshall Institute. These seven organizations stepped forward Graphic Designer—Austin St. Clair, [email protected] to nominate award recipients and organize the award ceremonies to honor professionals willing to speak out against global warming alarmism. Mining Media International Corporate Office The conference had panels featuring prominent scientists discussing the latest physi- 8751 East Hampden, Suite B1 cal science about global warming and the failure of models to predict climate change, Denver, Colorado 80231 U.S.A. dwindling polar ice caps, etc. Economists and policy experts explained the social benefits Phone: +1.303.283.0640 as well as the social costs of fossil fuels, the futility of spending trillions of dollars attempt- Fax: +1.303.283.0641 ing to stop uncertain and perhaps unknowable climate changes a century from now, and President/Publisher—Peter Johnson, [email protected] the need to repeal the bad energy policies and other policies that were adopted at the Vice President of Sales & Marketing—John Bold, [email protected] peak of the global warming scare and are now understood to be unnecessary, costly and Midwest/Eastern U.S. & Canada, Sales—Victor Matteucci, [email protected] counterproductive. Western U.S. & Canada, Sales—Mary Lu Buse, [email protected] This conference is a project of the Heartland Institute’s Center on Climate and Scandinavia, UK and European Sales—Colm Barry, [email protected] Environmental Policy, which produces an ambitious program of research and educa- Germany, Austria & Switzerland Sales—Gerd Strasmann, [email protected] tional projects in defense of free-market environmentalism. The world needs voices Australia/Asia Sales—Lanita Idrus, [email protected] Japan Sales—Masao Ishiguro, [email protected] devoted to sound science and market-based, rather than government-based, solutions Indonesia Sales—Dimas Abdillah, [email protected] to environmental problems, Bast explained. The Heartland Institute helps find and Classified Advertising—Norm Rose, [email protected] amplify those voices. Show Manager—Tanna Holzer, [email protected] Bast made an interesting comparison between alarmists and skeptics. Alarmists see Production Manager—Dan Fitts, [email protected] what they believe, he said, while skeptics believe what they see. Alarmists think every change in the weather is evidence of a human impact on climate, and a human impact is necessarily bad. They believe only government can solve big problems, and man-made climate change would be the biggest problem ever discovered. Skeptics look at the data and see no warming for 17 years, no increase in storms, no increase in the rate of sea level rise, no new extinctions attributable to climate change, in short, no climate crisis. Rather than defend the science behind their cause, global warming alarmists typically claim “the debate is over” and demonize their critics. Coal Age, Volume 119, Issue 7, (ISSN 1040-7820) is published monthly by Mining According to Bast, the U.S. federal government spent $22.5 billion on global warming Media Inc., 10 Sedgwick Drive, Englewood, Colorado 80113 (mining-media.com). in 2013. It has spent $200 billion over the past 20 years. “By one estimate, the world is Periodicals postage paid at Englewood, CO, and additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40845540. Canada return address: Station A, PO spending $1 billion a day on projects that wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for global warming Box 54, Windsor ON N9A 6J5, Email: [email protected]. Current and alarmism,” Bast said. “All this spending has created a global warming industry that back issues and additional resources, including subscription request forms and an marginalizes, demonizes, and sometimes outright attacks the thousands of scholars and editorial calendar, are available online at www.coalage.com. other professionals willing to speak out against a popular delusion.” To see what took SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Free and controlled circulation to qualified subscribers. Non-qualified persons may subscribe at the following rates: USA and Canada, 1 year, place at the conference, visit: http://climateconference.heartland.org/. $56.00, 2 year, $96.00, 3 year, $162.00, Student, $16.00, Outside the USA and Canada, 1 year, $77.00, 2 year, $137.00, 3 year, $225.00 surface mail (1 year, $145.00, 2 year, $257.00 airmail delivery). For subscriber services or to order single copies, write to Coal Age, 8751 East Hampden, Suite B1, Denver, CO 80231 USA; call +1.303.283.0640 (USA) or visit www.mining-media.com. ARCHIVES AND MICROFORM: This magazine is available for research and retrieval of select- ed archived articles from leading electronic databases and online search services, including Factiva, LexisNexis, and Proquest. For microform availability, contact ProQuest at 800-521- 0600 or +1.734.761.4700, or search the Serials in Microform listings at www.proquest.com. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Coal Age, P.O. Box 1337, Skokie, IL 60076 USA. Steve Fiscor REPRINTS: Mining Media Inc, 8751 East Hampden, Suite B1, Denver, CO 80231 USA [email protected] phone: +1.303.283.0640, fax: +1.303.283.0641, www.mining-media.com PHOTOCOPIES: Authorization to photocopy articles for internal corporate, personal, or instructional use may be obtained from the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at +1.978.750.8400. Obtain further information at www.copyright.com. COPYRIGHT 2014: Coal Age, incorporating Coal and 2 www.coalage.com Coal Mining & Processing. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CA_pg02-03_CA_pg02 7/11/14 1:21 PM Page 3 CA_pg04-19_V5_CA_pg06-23 7/11/14 1:43 PM Page 4 news CONSOL Energy Dedicates BMX Mine in Honor of Harvey CONSOL Energy Inc. celebrated its 150th anniversary and hosted a dedication ceremony at the Bailey Mine Expansion (BMX). The BMX mine has been renamed the Harvey mine in recognition of the leadership of J. Brett Harvey, who was recently elected execu- tive chairman of CONSOL Energy’s board of directors after 16 years with the company as president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board.