Salt River Project plans imminent start on mine, rail line

摘要

The Salt River Project plans an April or May start on construction of the Fence Lake mine, and a late-summer start on construction of the 45-mile rail line that will take Fence Lake coal to SRP's Coronado plant in Arizona. Fence Lake, a surface job that will produce up to 3-3.5 million tons/year, is designed to replace Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining's McKinley mine, which will exhaust its reserves within the next few years. Fence Lake will come on-line in mid 2005. The contract with McKinley expires at the end of 2006, said Fence Lake project manager Bob Barnard in an interview with Plaits Coal Outlook.