Antelope Coal Mine
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Antelope Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Wright, Converse County, Wyoming, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Mine Name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Antelope Coal Mine | Wright, Converse County, Wyoming, United States[1][2] | 43.494921, -105.361879 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:
Project Details
Table 2: Project status
| Status | Status Detail | Opening Year | Closing Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating[1] | – | 1985[2] | – |
Table 3: Operation details
| Capacity (Mtpa) | Production (Mtpa) | Year of Production | Mine Type | Mining Method | Mine Size (km2) | Mine Depth (m) | Workforce Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10[2] | 13.59[3] | 2024[3] | Surface[2] | Open Pit | 186.16 | 121.0 | 406[2] |
Table 4: Coal resources and destination
| Total Reserves (Mt) | Year of Total Reserves Recorded | Total Resources (Mt) | Coalfield | Coal Type | Coal Grade | Primary Consumer/ Destination |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 385.0 | – | – | Powder River Basin | Subbituminous | Thermal[2] | Walter Scott Jr. Energy Center |
Table 5: Ownership and parent company
| Owner | Parent Company | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|
| Navajo Transitional Energy Co LLC [100%][4] | Navajo Nation [100%] | USA |
Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)
| ROM or Saleable | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ROM[5] | 28.5[6] | 23.15[7] | 23.23[8] | 19.8[9] | 21.73[10] | 21.65[11] | 17.47[5] |
Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker May 2025 release.
Ownership Tree
This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.
Background
Antelope Coal Mine is a coal mine, operated by the Navajo Transitional Energy Company, owned by the Navajo Nation, producing 23. 1 million short tons, near Gillette, in Campbell County, Wyoming, United States. Antelope Coal Mine is fifty-five miles north of Douglas, Wyoming in the Powder River Basin. Rio Tinto Energy America acquired the mine in 1993 from Northern Energy Resource Company, a mining subsidiary of PacifiCorp. Antelope’s production has continued to increase each year for the last 20 years, and the mine is permitted to produce 36 million tons of coal annually.
Coal mined from Antelope is shipped primarily to Illinois, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Texas. On an average day, over twenty long freight trains full of coal leave Antelope coal mine bound for 100 power plants across the country.[12] The coal's average quality is 8,850 Btu subbituminous thermal coal.[13]
In 2008 Rio Tinto spun the most significant of its Powder River Basin coal assets — including the Antelope Coal Mine — off into Cloud Peak Energy, a company in which Rio Tinto has a 48.3% stake.[14]
In May 2019, Cloud Peak Energy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing the declining market for coal. This came after the company cut retiree benefits in October 2018, and was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in December.[15] The company's assets, including the Antelope mine, will go up for auction in July 2019; however, Cloud Peak had tried to sell assets before declaring bankruptcy but was unable to find buyers.[16]
In August of that same year, Cloud Peak Energy announced that it had "selected Navajo Transitional Energy Company as the successful bidder to assume ownership of its three coal mines in the basin" according to the Casper Star-Tribune. "The deal includes a $15.7 million immediate cash payment, a $40 million second lien promissory note and payment of royalties for coal produced over the next five years. Navajo will also take over Wyoming’s Cordero Rojo and Antelope mines — in addition to its Spring Creek mine in Montana."[17]
At the time of purchase, Antelope was the third-largest coal mine in the nation. With Antelope as an asset, the Navajo Transitional Energy Company (NTEC) became the third-largest coal producer in the United States of America. NTEC is moving its headquarters from New Mexico to Colorado as a result of the transaction.[18][19]
Expansion
In April 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the sale of coal reserves in the Powder River Basin next to Cloud Peak Energy's Antelope Mine.
On June 3, 2011, Cloud Peak Energy placed a successful bid for the West Antelope II North Coal Tract, which was previously nominated by the company’s Antelope Coal Mine. The bid for the lease sale was $297.7 million, or approximately $0.85/ton, based on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) estimate of 350 million mineable tons.
On June 15, 2011, CPE successful bid for the West Antelope II South Coal Tract, which was previously nominated by the company’s Antelope mine. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) estimates this tract contains approximately 56 million tons of mineable coal. CPE successfully won the lease sale with a bid of approximately $49.3 million, or $0.875/ton, based on the BLM’s estimate of 56 million mineable tons.
2025 Coal lease sales
On October 8, 2025, as part of the US government's efforts to revitalize the US coal industry, the Bureau of Land Management will hold a sealed-bid lease sale for the West Antelope III tract of land located adjacent to Antelope Mine's current mining operation. The sale is being held in response to a lease-by-application filed by the Navajo Transitional Energy Company. The West Antelope III tract included in the coal lease sale covers about 3,500 acres and contains approximately 445 million tons of coal, 365 Mt which is considered recoverable.[20] This tract is included in the 13.1 million acres of public lands reopened to coal mining by the Trump administration in September 2025.[21]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20240717193400/https://www.msha.gov/data-and-reports/mine-data-retrieval-system. Archived from the original on 17 July 2024.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 https://navenergy.com/antelope-mine/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20240213175031/https://www.msha.gov/data-and-reports/statistics/mine-employment-and-coal-production. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ "About NTEC – NTEC". Archived from the original on 2024-01-25. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O2I99G3lAqLb0N43F4T8Jy_ueLG-fJMm/view.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://drive.google.com/file/d/18TrmkxiUZ64kHvTpfwFj7sxSLfbc-yi-/view.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WVcPoy7TWCAv1LaCQD5KBAMp3B08URzM/view.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bwql2zs_vSTxfo_Eo0V1t4hX9wM412Q_/view.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PeXPu29xs9sz39QNgyE2H8RN2I9H7Kxu/view.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oXZXRbk_jtv5aCJ84YnRZJlKdlJSZJCc/view.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://drive.google.com/file/d/10k8DenaAx8TGPA1SSAqHS-xSW4Y6Bqnz/view.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ "The real story of US coal: inside the world's biggest coalmine" Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, November 10, 2014.
- ↑ "Antelope Mine," Rio Tinto Energy America Website, accessed November 2009
- ↑ Rio Tinto, 2009 Annual Report: Production & reserves: Group mines: Energy", Rio Tinto website, 2010.
- ↑ Wyoming coal giant Cloud Peak files for bankruptcy, Casper Star Tribune, 10 May 2019.
- ↑ Cloud Peak may be on last month of mining coal, Casper Star Tribune, 18 June 2019.
- ↑ NTEC Navajo Transitional Energy Completes Historic Transaction, Becomes Third Largest Coal Producer in the Country Navajo Transitional Energy Company Press Release, Oct 23, 2019
- ↑ NTEC NTEC expands its conscientious energy development efforts by acquiring three coal mines in the Powder River Basin NTEC Press Release, August 19, 2019
- ↑ US Federal Register, "Lease for Sale Navajo Transitional Energy Company, West Antelope III Mine Lease-by-Application WYW 184599, Campbell County, WY", Federal Register website, Accessed October 2025.
- ↑ "Interior Unleashes American Coal Power in Bold Move to Advance Trump Administration Priorities", US Department of the Interior, 29 September 2025.
External links
- "Major U.S. Coal Mines," Energy Information Administration
- "Antelope Mine," Rio Tinto Energy America
Articles and Resources
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
