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Emery Deep Mine

This page was last updated on December 18, 2023.

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Overview

The Emery Deep Mine is an underground mine initially operated by the Consolidation Coal Company in joint agreement with the Pittsburg and Midway Coal Mining Company. The mine is in central Utah approximately 4 miles south of the town of Emery.

The Emery Deep Mine is an existing underground coal mining operation, located approximately four miles south of Emery, Utah. Originally, the Emery Deep Mine was known as the Browning Mine which first opened in 1881 and intermittently produced coal until 1930. Since 1930, there has been a constant production of coal from the mine. Consolidation Coal and the Kemmerer Coal purchased the original Browning Mine in May of 1975. As of 1978, Consolidation Coal, as the operating partner of the joint venture with Kemmerer Coal, was actively mining coal from the Emery Deep Mine. (Emery Mine, Mine Reclamation Plan, 1978)

The permit area contains 5,180 surface acres, of which 80 acres are federal coal lease, and 5,100 acres are private surface. All of these acres are either leased or owned by Consolidation Coal company (later Consol Energy, Inc.). The coal mining operations were by room and pillar mining methods. In the initial permit application from 1985, the proposed coal mining operations were scheduled to cease around the year 2010.

Mining operations at the Emery Deep Mine began around the turn of the century with small pick and shovel coal operations. Larger operations began in 1937 with the establishment of the Browning Mine at the current site of the Emery Deep surface facilities. What was known as "Federal coal" was not mined until 1985. Prior to 1985, all coal mined came from private land, or from state trust land.

Consolidation Coal Company assumed active management of its holdings south of Emery (formerly the Browning Mine) during the 1970s. By 1980 the underground mine was producing 400,000 tons per year, and Consolidation Coal announced plans for a surface strip mine to recover coal deposits near the surface, under only 80 feet of cover. These plans created renewed interest in a railroad spur into the western part of the county. In 1979 Denver and Rio Grande Western officials confidently predicted construction of the Castle Valley Spur within five or six years. A detailed route map was presented to the county commission for approval in April 1981. The line was to pass east of Cleveland, parallel Highway 10 from Wilberg Ranch to Castle Dale, then go through Molen and east of Emery, terminating at the Consolidation mine. In sharp contrast to railroad prospects in earlier periods, the Castle Valley Spur proposal drew a largely negative response at public hearings from residents who did not want a railroad passing close to their homes or bisecting their farms. (History of Emery County, page 372) (The railroad spur was never built.)

Although the Emery mine had several important corporate parent companies, after about 1982, and without any long-term contracts, the mine appears to have been subject to the boom and bust cycle of selling coal on the spot market. A look at the mine's extensive underground workings indicate that plenty of coal has been mined and sold, but the mine continued to be active, and inactive for extended periods of time.

Early Years

On August 6, 1907, Ira Browning purchased the coal mine previous owned by Lewis Edwards. In 1909, Edwards sold coal lands adjacent to what had been sold to Browning, to San Rafael Fuel Company, which let the land lay dormant until 1958 when San Rafael sold the property to Kemmerer Coal Company.

October 26, 1909
The San Rafael Fuel Company was incorporated, with Ira D. Browning as the most important stockholder, along with persons in Salt Lake City. The company was formed to purchase 2,560 acres of coal lands in Emery County, in addition to 3,370 acres that were part of the initial capitalization. (Salt Lake Herald, October 27, 1909, "yesterday") (The 3,370 acres were owned by Browning, and were turned over to the company in return for shares in the company.)

January 22, 1910
"Another large coal camp is to be immediately established near the town of Emery by the San Rafael Fuel company, of which Ira R. Browning of Castle Dale is president and manager. This company was lately incorporated with a capitalization of $1,000,000. It is amply financed to prosecute work with vigor and dispatch. The company owns a large tract of patented coal land near the town of Emery and has also purchased of the ranch men and livestock men the coal under their farms and pasture lands giving it one of the greatest coal acreages owned by any concern in the state. The coal is of the very best quality. Unless the Utah Southern or the Denver & Rio Grande build a railroad down through Castle valley to Emery the San Rafael Fuel company will build a line of its own to some connecting point on the Denver & Rio Grande or the San Pedro railroad. In the event that the Denver & Rio Grande extends its line to the Emery coal fields it will mean the construction of the long talked of Salina cutoff road which will run from Green River to connect with the nineteen mile piece of road the Denver & Rio Grande company built out of Salina four years ago to a point in Salina canyon." (Emery County Progress, January 22, 1910)

(Read more about D&RGW's Castle Valley Branch, which ran from Salina, to Nioche, 20 miles east of Salina)

In 1910 Ira Browning's San Rafael Mining Company opened a mine in the Ferron Sandstone south of Emery. The Browning mine was later operated by E. H. Duzett. The Emery County Progress newspaper reported in 1929 that "many tons of coal" were being shipped from the Browning-Duzett mine near Emery to Salina. The Browning-Duzett mine south of Emery supplied coal to the Salina-Richfield market even though the Salina Canyon road was sometimes almost impassable to trucks. (History of Emery County, page 208, 263, 297)

January 14, 1920
In a news item about the annual meeting of the Utah Coal Operators Association, Ira Browning was mentioned as representing the San Rafael Fuel Company, and the Kemmerer Coal Company. (Salt Lake Telegram, January 14, 1920)

(Numerous news stories prior to 1910 show Ira R. Browning as a professional surveyor and civil engineer living in Castle Dale, offering his services to the public. He traveled extensively throughout eastern, central and southern Utah providing his services. He was also town clerk of Castle Dale. By 1912 he was Emery County Surveyor, and had taken a partner in his business, E. B. Andrews, becoming Browning & Andrews. In 1915-1916 he was the Emery County representative to the state legislature. In 1917 he was named as state road engineer to the state road commission when it was formed in 1917. He was soon named as chief engineer, then as State Road Commissioner when Henry Blood, the first commissioner, was elected as Utah's governor.)

1920-1922
In two reports of the state board of equalization, San Rafael Fuel Company was shown as owning 74 tracts of 40 acres each (2,960 acres), and Ira R. Browning was shown as owning 64 tracts of 40 acres each (2,560 acres), and Browning's wife as owning four tracts of 40 acres each (160 acres). The holdings of Ira Browning, including the San Rafael Fuel Company, and the Emery Coal and Coke Company, totaled $62,101. (Emery County Progress, February 21, 1920; Ogden Standard Examiner, February 14, 1922)

July 21, 1955
The following comes from the July 21, 1955 issue of the Green River Journal newspaper:

(Arthur L. Petty, owner of the Browning coal mine during the 1950s and 1960s, was the mayor of Emery, Utah, and the bishop of the Emery Ward of the LDS church, as well as a livestock rancher and a breeder of pure-bred quarter horses. -- Helper Journal, January 14, 1965)

August 11, 1958
San Rafael Fuel Company, a Utah corporation, was sold to Kemmerer Coal Company, a Wyoming corporation. The sale was approved by the company shareholders at a special meeting on September 10, 1958. (Salt Lake Tribune, September 10, 1958)

The San Rafael Fuel Company was dissolved by court order on December 19, 1958.

(Based on newspaper ads, "Browning Coal" as a trade name appears to have been a major supplier of coal for domestic and small business use in Manti, Delta, Beaver and Fillmore. The Browning coal mine also furnished wholesale coal, on a low-bid basis to Provo City for its city-owned coal-fired power plant.)

July 1962
Kemmerer Coal company has acquired 7,700 acres of coal lease lands in Emery and Sevier counties in Utah from the Bureau of Land Management. "Kemmerer has held several thousand acres of private coal lands in the Carbon-Emery area in Utah for about 55 years." (Mining Congress Journal magazine, July 1962, page 73)

(This "55 years" dated from 1907 when Ira Browning formed his San Rafael Fuel Company.)

August 30, 1970
Browning Coal Company shipped a 75-car train of coal (5,600 tons) to a steel mill in Japan. The coal was trucked from the company's coal mine to a loading area adjacent to the D&RGW tracks in Salina. The loaded railroad cars were then shipped by D&RGW to Provo, where they were interchanged with Union Pacific for the trip to the port in southern California. It was test shipment to see if Utah coal was suitable for the steel mill's needs. (Salt Lake Tribune, August 30, 1970)

August 22, 1974
In a news item about the Carbon Fuel coal mine in Hardscrabble canyon above Helper being forced to stop selling retail coal to local residential customers, the Browning coal mine near Emery was mentioned as a source of residential coal. (Helper Journal, August 22, 1974) (The Carbon Fuel mine was forced to stop selling retail coal because it was owned by McCulloch Oil company which had just signed a long-term contract with Midwestern utilities. Securities and stock trading laws do not allow coal to be sold to both utilities and local retail outlets.)

Emery Mine Timeline

Consolidation Coal

January 1968
The state, in the interest of the state school trust lands, originally issued a coal lease to Kemmerer Coal Company in January 1968 for a 20-year term. Kemmerer Coal never mined the lease and eventually assigned it to the 50/50 joint venture of Consolidation Coal and Pittsburgh & Midway Coal.

(Consolidation Coal had been part of Conoco since 1966.)

July 1970
Prior to July 1970, the mining activity was on private land, or on state trust lands. In July of 1970, Consolidation Coal (Consol) and Kemmerer Coal were jointly issued the original federal coal lease, covering approximately 720 acres.

Prior to its federal application, the Emery mine was operating solely on trust lands controlled by the State of Utah, under a permit issued on May 11, 1978. The mine had closed on June 29, 1983 due to poor market conditions, and re-opened on February 4, 1985.

February 10, 1976
William Teel of Denver has incorporated the Castle Valley Railroad company to build a 65-mile rail line linking Emery with the Price-Wellington area. The expected cost was reported as $70 million. If the federal Bureau of Land Management approves the environmental impact statement, the new line could be in operation by November 1, 1979, with the primary purpose being to serve the coal mine of the Consolidation Coal company. (Salt Lake Tribune, February 10, 1976)

April 13, 1976
Kemmerer Coal Company and Consolidation Coal Company jointly applied for a permit to mine coal in what was called the "Emery Surface Mine." The mine was to use either dragline and truck methods, or truck and shovel methods to mine the coal. The Utah Board of Oil, Gas and Mining, of the Utah Division of Natural Resources had given the project a tentative approval, pending a period of public comment. (Salt Lake Tribune, April 20, 1976, Public Notices)

June 22, 1977
Consolidation Coal and Kemmerer Coal submitted a proposed mine plan to the Utah State Division of Oil, Gas and Mining. The proposed mine, known as the Deep Emery Mine, consisted of private lands as well as state and federal leases. (Consolidation Coal, v. Utah Division of States Lands and Forestry; Justia.com)

1978
By February 1978, the proposed mining method had been changed from surface mining, to underground mining. (Emery Mine, Mine Reclamation Plan, 1978)

1981
The Emery mine was opened in 1981 as a 50/50 joint venture of Pittsburg & Midway Coal Company (Kemmerer Coal), and Consolidation Coal Company. (Coal Age magazine, October 1985, page 53)

The Emery mine had produced 600,000 tons of coal during 1980. (Mining Congress Journal magazine, May 1981, page 6)

(Kemmerer Coal Company was acquired by Pittsburg & Midland Coal Company in 1981. Pittsburg & Midland had been part of Gulf Oil since 1963.)

March 20, 1981
Consolidation Coal first applied for a federal mining permit for the Emery mine on March 20, 1981. The permit was finally approved by all state and federal parties in September 1985.

(Conoco, along with its Consolidation Coal subsidiary, was acquired by DuPont in July 1981. Consolidation Coal had been part of Continental Oil company (Conoco) since 1966.)

Mid 1981
Consolidation Coal began mining during the second quarter of 1981 and continued to mine through 1986. (Consolidation Coal, v. Utah Division of States Lands and Forestry; Justia.com)

1982
Higher production did not begin until early 1982, with the approval of a larger truck loading facility. (Documents on file with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining)

October 1982
Consolidation Coal announced that the company would be trucking coal to a railroad loadout at Spearmint siding on D&RGW's Marysvale Branch, 11 miles north of Salina, with another 48 miles between Emery and Salina. The site was formerly a sugar factory, and would be used exclusively by Consol Energy (Consolidation Coal Co.) to load coal trucked from its Emery mine, which it had purchased in 1975. Consolidation Coal was also trucking coal to a loadout at Mohrland, on the Utah Railway. (Coal Age magazine, October 1982, page 32)

The coal being loaded at Spearmint was being trucked 59 miles from Consolidation Coal's Emery Deep Mine. Consolidation bought the old Browning Coal Company's mine in 1975, and originally intended on shipping coal by way of the new Castle Valley Railroad, organized for the purpose in 1976. Financing for the railroad fell apart due to uncertain production from the Emery mine, and all that was completed was what we know today as C.V. Spur, south of Wellington. Production from the Emery mine has always varied considerably, and was essentially shut down in 1986, in part due to increasing transportation costs after the Marysvale Branch was closed by the Thistle slide in 1983. A contract was signed in 1985 to supply coal by truck to Utah Power & Light's Hunter and Huntington steam plants, but only until UP&L found better quality coal.

December 1, 1982
The Emery mine was inactive and idle beginning on December 1, 1982 due to a soft coal market, "for an indefinite period." Most of the coal mined since July 1982 had been stockpiled at the mine. (Provo Daily Herald, December 1, 1982)

1983
Consol produced 44,000 tons of coal during 1983. The mine was inactive during 1984. (Coal Age magazine , October 1985, page 53)

(Gulf Oil, and its Pittsburg & Midland Coal company subsidiary, which owned 50 percent of the Emery mine, was acquired by Chevron in 1984.)

"Until 1984, Chevron Corp.'s only Federal coal lease was an interest the undeveloped CX Ranch lease in Montana. But in 1984 it acquired Gulf Oil Corp. and Gulf's subsidiary, Pittsburgh& Midway Coal Co. Chevron currently holds or controls part or all of 38 coal leases, more than any other company, in the names of Gulf Oil Corp. and Pittsburgh & Midway. Ownership of 14 leases in Colorado and Utah acquired by Gulf when it absorbed the Kemmerer Coal Company leases is shared with DuPont's subsidiary, Consolidation Coal Co. Chevron's holdings include 803 million tons of coal reserves." (U.S Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Potential Effects of Section 3 of the Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act of 1976; Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, March 1986, page 151)

(At some time in the mid 1980s, Chevron sold its interest in the Emery mine to DuPont. Research has not yet found a newspaper story or any other online coverage of the sale.)

The DuPont coal interests were originally Consolidation Coal interests, after Consolidation Coal had been sold to Conoco, and after Conoco had been sold to DuPont.

1985
Consolidation Coal had contracts to supply 720,000 tons of coal per year to the Utah Power and Light Company to replace coal production lost through the fire at Utah Power and Light Company's Wilberg Mine. (Documents on file with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, dated September 1985)

October 1985
"Pittsburg & Midway's Emery Mine is a 50/50 joint venture with Consolidation Coal Co. opened in 1981. It recovers from the I-J seam. In 1983 it produced 44,000 tons, in 1984 it was inactive, and in 1985 it produced an anticipated 1.0 million. (Coal Age, October 1985, page 53)

1986-1990
The Emery mine was active until July 30, 1986, when mining operations ceased. Development of additional coal resources continued after September 1986, with limited coal being extracted. Mining operations ceased again on December 31, 1986. In May 1987, mining activity was re-started, but in July 1987, with 15,000 tons of coal stored at the mine site, mining activity was again halted. Mining operations resumed on September 13, 1987. Operations were again ceased in July 1990 due to poor market conditions. (Inspection reports on file with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining)

Consol Energy

(January 1991 -- Consolidation Coal Company used "Consol" as its abbreviation in stock listings and internal communications. In January 1991, Rheinbraun A.G. of Germany bought a 50 percent interest in DuPont's coal properties, namely those of Consolidation Coal company, and the new jointly-owned company became Consol Energy, Inc. The 50 percent interest in DuPont's coal properties reportedly cost Rheinbraun $890 million.)

(Rheinbraun AG of Germany, mentioned above, was a subsidiary of RWE A.G, a large utility company, and should not be confused with RAG American, which owned the Willow Creek and Star Point mines in 1999 and 2000. RAG American Coal Company was organized in Delaware. RAG American Coal Company was a subsidiary of RAG AG, which was formed in 1968 as Ruhrkohle AG. RAG American bought the Cyprus Plateau mines at Willow Creek at Castle Gate and Star Point at Wattis in June 1999.) (Read more about RAG American Coal)

Consol Energy was created in January 1991 as a 50/50 joint venture between DuPont and Rheinbraun A.G., when DuPont sold part of its coal mining interests to the German energy company, Rheinbraun A.G., which was looking to invest in coal reserves in North America. For $890 million DuPont sold Rheinbraun A.G a 50-percent interest in its coal mines, and the two companies formed Consol Energy as a joint venture.

June 27, 2002
"The Emery Deep Mine has been in cessation since May 1990. While in cessation the operator turned off the ventilation, but maintained the groundwater pumps to dewater the mine. During that time some regulations and reclamation standards have changed. Consolidation Coal Company (Consol) recently decided to continue operations. When they reentered the mine, they found some main entries collapsed, which blocked safe access to the working areas. Consol decided to implement their plans for the 4th East Portal." (Document on file with Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, dated June 27, 2002)

1993-2003
The Emery mine was inactive from 1993 to 2003.

On April 15, 1993, Consol Energy bought Island Creek Coal company of West Virginia from Occidental Petroleum. Occidental's president of 30 years, Armand Hammer, had died in December 1990. Island Creek had owned the Heiner mine in Dugout canyon until 1976, but left Utah after that. By 2003, Island Creek was still a 100-percent-owned subsidiary of Consol Energy, which in-turn was a 100-percent-owned subsidiary of Rheinbraun AG (or its associated and affiliated companies). Island Creek's holdings were all in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.

February 2003
In June 1989, Consol had proposed an additional fan intake portal, and additional mine conveyor portal, to be known as "4 East," or "4th East." The new portal site is approximately 1.5 miles northeast of the original portal at the Browning mine site. The new portal was approved in August 1990, but the approval was based in the original plans that the site would be used solely for ventilation and emergency escape. Due to periods of inactive mining, the plans lay dormant for 12 years. In 2002, as Consol Energy planned to re-open the mine, they sought approval for a full 3-entry portal facility capable of fully functioning as an active mine with conveyor entry, manway entry, and airway entry. The revised plan for the 4th East portal was approved on December 6, 2002, and the portal was apparently in full use by February 2003, since inspection reports refer to a coal storage pile being on site. The 4th East portal is actually an excavated ramp down to the coal seams, which are 70 feet below the surface.

2003
Mining resumed in 2003 (production started in 3rd quarter 2004), but the mine was closed again in December 2010.

February 16, 2011
The Emery Deep Mine was placed in "temporary cessation" status by Consolidation Coal Company. (Document on file with Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, dated February 16, 2011)

Bronco Utah Operations

2015
Bronco Utah Operations bought the Emery mine from Consol Energy in December 2015. The Emery mine produced about 1 million short tons annually from the Ferron Sandstone I bed from its opening in 2005 through 2010, when CONSOL idled the mine due to low coal demand. Bronco plans to develop new portals and underground workings in the I bed, with the capability of producing up to 1.0 to 1.5 million short tons per year using the continuous miner in some sections; actual production will depend on market conditions. If permits are established, the Emery mine could produce about 200,000 short tons in 2016 and employ up to 100 miners by the end of the year. (Utah's Extractive Resource Industries 2015, page 23)

December 22, 2015
Consol Energy sold its Emery mine and Hidden Valley reserves to Bronco Coal Resources LLC. Together the assets represent about 30 million tons of reserves. Bronco's President and CEO is Dan Baker, who was Executive Vice President-Mining, Consol Energy Inc., from November 1999 to October 2002. In April 2005, Bronco bought the Columbia mine near Sunnyside. (Documents on file with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining)

Mining was resumed again in July 2017 by Bronco Utah.

(Read more about Bronco Utah)

(Additional information about the Emery Deep Mine can be found in the January 12, 2023 issue of the Salt Lake Tribune. The article includes brief notes about an ongoing (2021-2023) legal battle concerning royalties between Bronco Utah and Consol Energy.)

Corporate Name Changes

Consolidation Coal Co.

(Consolidation Coal -> Conoco -> DuPont -> Rheinbraun A.G.) (Consol Energy remained as the operating company through these changes.)

The following summary of Consolidation Coal comes in the most part from Wikipedia:

1860 -- Consolidation Coal Company had its roots in Western Maryland.

1927 -- Consolidation Coal Company became the largest coal producer in the United States. (Coal Age magazine, October 1988, page 39)

1945 -- Consolidation Coal merged with Pittsburg Coal Company, giving it large coal reserves and production in western Pennsylvania.

The merged name was Pittsburgh and Consolidation Coal Company, but the "Pittsburgh" part of the name was dropped in 1958. (Coal Age magazine, October 1988, page 39)

1966 -- Consolidation Coal was acquired by Continental Oil Company (Conoco). By the mid-1970s, Consolidation Coal Company operated 56 mines and employed nearly 20,000 miners.

1981 -- Continental Oil Company (Conoco), along with Consolidation Coal Company was acquired by DuPont (July 1981).

1991 -- Consol Energy was created as a 50/50 joint venture between DuPont and Rheinbraun A.G., when DuPont sold some of its coal mining interests to the German energy company, Rheinbraun A.G., which was looking to invest in coal reserves in North America. For $890 million DuPont sold Rheinbraun A.G an interest in its coal mines, and the two companies formed Consol Energy as a joint venture (January 1991).

(Rheinbraun AG of Germany, mentioned above, was a subsidiary of RWE A.G, a large utility company, and should not be confused with RAG American, which owned the Willow Creek mine at Castle Gate, and Star Point mine at Wattis 1999 and 2000. RAG American Coal Company was organized in Delaware. RAG American Coal Company was a subsidiary of RAG AG, which was formed in 1968 as Ruhrkohle AG.) (Read more about RAG American at Willow Creek)

"E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company acquired Consolidation Coal, the nation's second-largest coal producer after the Peabody Coal Company, in 1981 as part of its acquisition of Conoco Inc." (New York Times, March 22, 1991)

1998 -- Rheinbraun A.G. bought all but DuPont's 6 percent interest in Consol Energy, giving 94 percent control of Consol Energy to Rheinbraun A.G. (September 1998).

1999 -- Consol Energy went public, at which time Rheinbraun's interest fell to 68 percent and DuPont's to 4 percent, with the public owning about 28 percent (April 1999). (Pittsburgh Post Gazette, April 24, 2002)

2004
Consolidation Coal was a publicly traded company after early 2004, when Rheinbraun AG sold the last of its interest.

2007
"Consol is the largest producer of bituminous coal in the U.S., as well as the largest coal producer from underground mines, the largest coal producer east of the Mississippi River and the largest coal exporter." (Plunkett's Energy Industry Almanac 2007)

In April 2017, Consol Energy had divested all of its coal operations, except for the Pennsylvania mine which it was in the process of spinning off into an independent company. 

(Read the Wikipedia article about Consol Energy)

Kemmerer Coal Co.

(Kemmerer Coal -> Pittsburg & Midland -> Gulf Oil -> Chevron -> Rheinbraun A.G.) (When did Chevron sell out to Rheinbraun A.G?)

Kemmerer Coal Company had been formed in 1897 to mine coal in southwestern Wyoming. In 1958, the company bought its initial parcel in Emery County, Utah.

Kemmerer Coal became a subsidiary of Pittsburg & Midway Coal Co. in 1981. After 1981, newspaper reports refer to the Emery Deep Mine as being owned by Consolidation Coal, as a subsidiary of either Gulf Oil, or of Chevron.

1885 -- Pittsburg & Midway Coal Company had its roots in the coal mines of southeastern Kansas, mining coal from the Midway No. 1 in Labette County, Kansas (the Pittsburg & Midland Coal company was formed in 1895). By 1900 the company was mining over 236,000 tons per year. By 1905 the Midway mine was mined out and the company expanded to new mines in Oklahoma, Arkansas and western Kansas. By 1975 production had reached 7.3 million tons per year.

1963 -- The Pittsburg & Midland Coal company was a privately held family operation, owned by the Spenser family until 1963 when the Spensers sold their Spenser Chemical Company, and its subsidiary Pittsburg & Midland Coal Company, to Gulf Oil Corporation. By that time the company had moved its headquarters from Pittsburg, Kansas, to Kansas City, in 1961, and again to Denver, in 1975. In 1962 P&M ranked number 13 in U. S. coal production, with 5.4 million tons.

1981 -- Pittsburg & Midland Coal Company acquired the Kemmerer Coal Company, which held coal reserves and active coal mines in southwestern Wyoming, as well as the "Emery Surface Mine" in central Utah.

1984 -- Gulf Oil was acquired by Chevron, which kept the Pittsburg & Midland Coal company active to manage and operate some of its coal reserves and mining operations until 2007.

2007-- Chevron created its subsidiary Chevron Mining, Inc., to manage and operate all of its coal reserves and mining operations (September 2007).

Rheinbraun A.G

July 1981
"Rheinische Braunkohlenwerke A.G., a major West German mining company generally known as Rheinbraun." (New York Times, July 1, 1981)

March 1991
"Rheinbraun is a subsidiary of RWE A.G., a holding company that operates Germany's largest electric utility." (New York Times, March 22, 1991)

By 2000, the U. S. properties of Rheinbraun were held by Rheinbraun U.S. GmbH, a subsidiary of Rheinbraun AG, which in-turn was a subsidiary of RWE AG.

Effective January 1, 2002 Rheinbraun US GmbH was merged into Rheinbraun AG.

In multiple sales agreements, between May 2003 and February 2004 Rheinbraun divested itself of its 73.6 percent majority stake in Consol Energy, Inc. Rheinbraun was then able to focus their energy operations on key European markets. The sale of their shares in CONSOL Energy made "a significant contribution to reducing net debt." The closing on February 13, 2004 for the sale of its last stake of 18.5 percent of Consol Energy brought an income of US$ 296 million. (RWE AG 2003 Annual Report)

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