Andalex Centennial Mine

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Centennial Project (Tower Resources)

(Deadman Canyon)

The Centennial Project consists of three mines:

The Centennial name comes from the initial coal lease in 1973 being held by "Centennial Coal Associates," with the initial opening being called the Pinnacle mine.

Andalex Resources was a privately-held company that first came to Utah in 1977 when its predecessor company Amca Coal Leasing (later Tower Resources), purchased the Pinnacle mine in Deadman Canyon, in Carbon County, about 8-1/4 miles northeast of Price. Development of the Pinnacle mine began in 1981.

Amca Coal Leasing purchased the Centennial mine in late 1977 and began obtaining regulatory approvals, including requesting that Carbon County improve and pave an extension of what was known as Airport Road, extending the pavment into Deadman Canyon. Surface facilities were to be constructed in Deadman Canyon starting in July 1978, with the company mining coal leases in Straight, Starpoint and Deadman canyons. The plans included a coal processing site on private land south of Wellington.

Amca received approval from the Utah Division of Oil Gas and Mining in December 1978 to begin operations of its planned coal mine in Deadman Canyon.

In mid 1980, Amca Resources (also known as Amca Coal Leasing), a subsidiary of Andalex, transferred ownership of the Centennial mine in Deadman Canyon to Tower Resources, Inc. In December 1981, Tower Resources leased land from Utah Railway at its Wildcat siding and constructed its Wildcat Loadout, adjacent to the existing loadout operated by Swicher Coal.

Effective on January 1, 1986, with the merger of Amca into Andalex, with the surviving company taking the name Andalex Resources, Inc., with Tower Resources in Utah becoming the Tower Division of Andalex Resources.

The Tower (later Andalex) Centennial Project is comprised of three mines located closely together in Deadman Canyon. There were three active mine openings: Pinnacle mine; Apex mine; and Aberdeen mine. The Pinnacle mine extracted coal first from the Gilson seam, then from the Centennial seam.

Andalex Resources operated the Pinnacle mine, which had been developed by Andalex predecessor Amca Resources beginning in 1981. In later years Andalex developed the adjacent Aberdeen and Apex mines, also in Deadman Canyon. The group of mines were shown in documents as the Andalex Centennial Project or just the Centennial mine. The coal from the Pinnacle mine was trucked to the Wildcat Loadout on Utah Railway for shipment to customers.

The Centennial Project mined four different coal seams in various areas within the coal leases held by Tower Resources (later Andalex Resources). The top seam is the Lower Sunnyside seam which varied from 4 to 5 feet. The Centennial seam is 80 feet below the Lower Sunnyside seam and ranged from 5 feet to 7 feet. The Gilson seam is 110 feet below the Centennial seam, and ranged from 4 to 9 feet. The lowest is the Aberdeen seam (also known as the Castle Gate 'A' seam), approximately 250 feet below the Gilson seam. The Aberdeen seam ranges between 4 and 13 feet of coal. Both longwall and room and pillar methods of mining were utilized in mining operations.

The Centennial Seam, above the Gilson seam, was mined via rock tunnels from the existing Pinnacle Mine. The Apex mine extracted coal from the Centennial seam, and from the Lower Sunnyside seam, situated above the Centennial seam. The Aberdeen mine extracted coal from the Aberdeen seam (also known as the Castle Gate 'A' seam). The mines are located in the Right Fork of Deadman Canyon.

There are four economic seams present on the Deadman Canyon property. The uppermost seam is the Lower Sunnyside which varies from four to six feet thick. The second highest seam is the Centennial Seam which varies from four to eight feet thick. The third seam is the Gilson Seam which also varies from four feet to eight feet thick. The lowermost seam is the Aberdeen which varies from four to thirteen feet in thickness. The bottom two seams are separated by a 200 foot interval which includes a massive sandstone. The Gilson and the Centennial Seams are separated by approximately 130 feet and the Centennial and Lower Sunnyside Seams are separated by 80 feet including a massive sandstone. It should be noted that the area in which the Centennial Seam is to mined does not contain any reserves in either the Lower Sunnyside nor the Gilson Seams. Only the Aberdeen Seam is present where the Centennial Seam is to be mined.

Mining plans called for rock tunnels to be constructed from the existing Pinnacle Mine up to the Centennial Seam mining area. These sloped rock tunnels were each approximately 500 feet in length. The three tunnels consist of an intake air tunnel, a return air tunnel, and a belt tunnel. Coal was transported via the belt tunnel and transferred onto the existing Pinnacle Mine conveyor belts. These tunnels were constructed in the Spring of 1990 and mining was commenced.

The mining method being employed in the Aberdeen Mine was "gateroad" development utilizing continuous miners with final extraction by longwall. Certain fringe area reserves, inadequate for longwall panels, were by room-and-pillar method.

All Andalex Centennial mines used the MHSHA roof support plan which calls for bolting on five foot centers with a minimum 42-inch bolt length in the development entries. Roof control in the longwall faces was accomplished using hydraulic shields. The roof in all four seams is a massive sandstone (60 feet or more) and offered excellent support in itself. The old mine workings which were rehabilitated for the Pinnacle Mine main entries had stood unsupported for 40 years.

Centennial Timeline

Several small operations previously mined a considerable amount of coal over the past 70 years in the Deadman Canyon Area. Mining ceased in the area in 1964. Mining operations at the Pinnacle Mine began on October 3, 1980 on the Zion's fee lease and extended onto Andalex's federal leases in 1982. Andalex opened the Apex Mine in late 1982. Mining activity in 2002 was occurring in the Gilson Seam and Lower Sunnyside Seam. Mining commenced in the Aberdeen Seam in mid 1988. Mining commenced in the Centennial Seam in 1990.

1976
Centennial Coal Associates applied to the U. S. Geologic Survey in 1976 for its initial coal mining permit. The coal lease was assigned to Amca Coal Leasing, Inc., in February, 1977, which in-turn applied in 1978 to the Utah Division of Oil Gas and Mining for a mining permit. Centennial Coal Associates, and later Amca Coal Leasing continued to acquire additional coal leases. By 2010 successor Andalex held a total of 6,528 acres of coal leases as part of the Centennial Project.

July 1978
Tower Resources, Inc., first shows in online newspapers in July 1978, when the company applied to surface mine 74 acres in Hopkins County, Kentucky. The mine later became the Don-Bow Mine.

January 16, 1978
Carbon County approved Amca Coal Leasing's request to upgrade and improve County Road 299 (Deadman Canyon Road) as part of its planned coal mining operations. "Tower Resources, Inc. (Amca Coal Leasing, Inc.) has permission to use Carbon County Road 299 in conjunction with its mining activity and coal hauling and there are no restrictions as to the volume of traffic."

September 1978
Tower Resources, Inc., using letterhead of Amca Coal Leasing, Inc., began the permitting process and development of its proposed Centennial project by developing the Pinnacle mine in Carbon County. The documents were signed by Sam Quigley, shown in other source material as the vice president of operations for Andalex Resources, renamed from the earlier Amca Resources. The Pinnacle mine was on the site of the old Zions mine, abandoned in the 1940s, which mined a different coal seam.

March 1980
The first document concerning Tower Resources in Utah came in March 1980 when Tower Resources sent a letter to the federal Mining Safety and Health Administration concerning the ventilation plan for the Pinnacle mine.

Prior to mining by Tower Resources in 1980, several small operations had mined a considerable amount of coal over the past 70 years in the Deadman Canyon area, including the Hileman, Olsen, Star Point, and Blue Flame No.1 mines. This small scale mining ceased in the Deadman Canyon area in 1964. The original coal lease for 235 acres of what later became the Centennial Project was in the hands of private individuals beginning in 1925, and continuing until February 1, 1973, when it was assigned to Centennial Coal Associates, after a series of exploratory drill holes were completed in November and December 1971.

October 3, 1980
Mining operations in the form of mine development at the Pinnacle mine began. Tower Resources, Inc. had received final approval from regulators on September 5, 1980, following the required 30-day public comment period.

Tower Resources (later known as Andalex Resources) began mining operations in the Pinnacle mine October 1980. By late 1982, when the Apex mine was opened, Amca Coal Leasing was doing business as Tower Resources.

November 12, 1981
The federal Office of Surface Mining approved the mining plan of the Centennial Project. On March 12, 1991, the same office approved the mining plan to remove an additional 8.8 million tons of coal, on an additional 933 acres of federal coal leases.

Coal from the Tower Centennial mine was trucked to the C. V. Spur (later Savage Coal Terminal) on the former D&RGW south of Price, until 1984 when it was then trucked to the Wildcat loadout on Utah Railway, which Tower built beginning in 1981.

Wildcat Loadout

Starting in December 1981, the Tower Resources began development of a new unit coal train loadout facility at Utah Railway's Wildcat siding, as a location to load rail cars with coal from its Pinnacle mine in Deadman Canyon, 20 miles to the east (also known as its Centennial project). The initial lease for property at Wildcat was taken in December 1981, and after completing the required other leases and construction, the first train was loaded in April 1985. In May 2011, Andalex sold its interests in the Wildcat Loadout to the Intermountain Power Agency.

The coal from Tower Resource's Pinnacle mine was trucked from the mine in Deadman Canyon a distance of almost 21 miles to the Wildcat Loadout. (View a Google Map showing the route)

(Read more about the Wildcat Loadout)

April 8, 1982
Tower Resources received federal BLM authority to proceed with its "Centennial Project," including expansion of the Wildcat loadout to accommodate additional mine production. The unit train loadout included a 200-ton surge bin. The authority included a waiver for close clearances on the loadout itself.

July 1983
The Apex mine was still being developed and was not yet in production. An inspection in January 1985 found that the mine was in production, and loading trucks.

March 27, 1986
Tower Resources, Inc., was changed to Andalex Resources, Inc. The change included Amca Coal Leasing, Inc., also doing business as Andalex Resources, Inc. At this time Tower Resources became the Tower Division of Andalex Resources, Inc.

March 1988
Permit approvals for the Aberdeen mine commenced in March 1988. Surface facilities for the Aberdeen mine were completed early in 1990. At the time, Tower Resources was actively mining in the Lower Sunnyside (Apex Mine), Centennial (Pinnacle Mine), and Gilson (Pinnacle Mine) coal seams which lay above the Aberdeen coal seam. In 1989, surface construction began for the Aberdeen portals. The new portals were driven in a northwesterly direction into the coal seam crossing through old works that were mined in the 1930s. Longwall mining at Aberdeen Mine began in December 1995. Longwall panels are approximately 780 feet wide and up to approximately 8700 feet long.

By November 2003 the Apex mine had been closed and sealed. The crusher at the Pinnacle mine was moved to the Aberdeen mine.

January 2006
Andalex Resources closed the Pinnacle mine. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 7, 2006)

As of July 2007 the Apex Mine and the Pinnacle Mine had been worked out. The Apex Mine has been sealed at the portals. The Pinnacle mine was still being ventilated because the power to the Aberdeen mine ran into the Pinnacle mine from the substation and then dropped down to the Aberdeen Mine through a borehole connecting the two mines. There were no plans to produce any more coal from the Pinnacle Mine. Therefore, all existing and future mine production from the Centennial Project was solely from the Aberdeen Mine.

In March 2008, all activity at the Tower mine in Deadman Canyon (including the Aberdeen mine) was ceased and mining operations were idled.

March 28, 2008
UtahAmerican Energy ceased operations at the Tower mine on Friday March 28, 2008. The Tower mine had closed in August 2007 after six men had died in the same company's the Crandall Canyon mine, to allow an expert analysis of the geologic conditions in the Tower mine. The Tower mine reopened in January 2008. (KUTV.com, March 28, 2008)

April 3, 2008
Murray Energy closed the Tower (former Centennial Project) mine due to unsafe geologic stress conditions in the mine, which was 2,7500 feet deep. (Associated Press, April 3, 2008)

As of February 2010, all future mine production from the Centennial Project was to be solely from the Aberdeen Mine, closed since 2008.

October 16, 2020
Utah Land Resources -- Ownership of the Centennial mine (now known as the Tower mine) passed from UtahAmerican Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Murray Energy, to a new company, Utah Land Resources, a subsidiary of American Consolidated Natural Resources, the reorganized Murray Energy company which had declared bankruptcy in 2019. (Documents on file at the Utah Division of Oil Gas and Mining; the official date may be August 24, 2020, when the request was sent to DOGM)

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