Name of the Mine
Shoal Creek mine.

Location  
Jefferson, Tuscaloosa and Walker counties, in Alabama, in the US.

Mine Owner/s  
Peabody Energy.

Brief Description  
Shoal Creek is a production-stage underground longwall metallurgical coal mine. The mine extracts coal from the Mary Lee and Blue Creek coal seams at depths of 305 m to 396 m.

Brief History  
Shoal Creek has been operation since 1994. Peabody acquired the operations in December 2018.

Primary Metals/Minerals  
Metallurgical coal.

Secondary Metals/Minerals  
None stated.

Geology/Mineralisation  
The Shoal Creek property is situated within the east-central area of the Warrior coalfield, which is within the Pennsylvanian-aged Pottsville Formation. The coalfield is divided into two separate basins – the Warrior coal basin, which contains the Shoal Creek property, and the Plateau coal basin.

The Warrior coal basin is located within the Cumberland Plateau section of the Appalachian Highlands and is bound on the eastern side by the Opossum Valley thrust fault. 

The Mary Lee Group outcrops along the northern and eastern edges of the Warrior coal basin. The southern portion of the basin is bound by the East Gulf Coastal Plain sediments. The Warrior coal basin dips one to two degrees to the south-west and the coalbeds plunge into the basin dipping as much as 9.

The peat deposition of the Mary Lee and Blue Creek coal seams are representative of deposition on an ancient low-lying fluvial system. The thickest coal is in a north-west to south-east direction, in areas that probably represent locations of ancient low-lying inland valleys that were associated with major stream courses in the upper delta plain. Thinner coal zones are present in smaller valleys off the main ancient channel. These zones likely represent smaller tributaries and valleys of the ancient fluvial system. 

Shoal Creek currently mines both Mary Lee and Blue Creek seams.

Reserves  
Total proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2023, were estimated at 17-million tons, with a 9.6% ash content, 0.7% sulphur content and a 30.3% volatile matter content.

Resources  
Measured and indicated coal resources as at December 31, 2023, were estimated at 71-million tons, with an ash content of 9.8%, a sulphur content of 0.7% and a volatile matter content of 24.6%.

Type of Mine
Underground.

Mining Method  
The mine uses continuous miners to develop longwall panels, which are then mined using two longwall systems.

Major Infrastructure/Equipment  
Shoal Creek has built extensive infrastructure to support the operation, including a coal handling and processing plant, slope access with rail and conveyor haulage, ventilation shafts, man and material shaft, coal refuse disposal areas, barge loadout, and administration and other supporting facilities. 

The operation added a newly built portal site in Camp Creek portal (Walker County) in 2011. The Camp Creek portal site includes a bathhouse for all mine employees, a mine office, a warehouse, a supply yard, an elevator shaft for personnel and materials, intake and return shafts, and a parking lot for employees. All personnel are from nearby towns and they drive in or out to the operations. There is no on-site accommodation or camp.

The mine includes continuous miners, feeder breakers, shuttle cars, scoops, roof bolters, power centres, ancillary fans, shearers, shields, AFCs, and stage loaders and crushers.

Prospects  
No recent developments.

Contact Details
Peabody Energy 
Tel +1 314 342 3400
Email info@peabodyenergy.com

Sources
Peabody Energy Corporation, website: www.peabodyenergy.com