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White Flame Surface Mine is a mothballed coal mine in Wharncliffe, Mingo County, West Virginia, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Mine Name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| White Flame Surface Mine | Wharncliffe, Mingo County, West Virginia, United States[1] | 37.690131, -82.1448 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mothballed[2] | – | 1997[1] | – |
Table 3: Operation details
| Capacity (Mtpa) | Production (Mtpa) | Year of Production | Mine Type | Mining Method | Mine Size (km2) | Mine Depth (m) | Workforce Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 0.0[2] | 2025[2] | Surface[1] | Open Pit[1] | – | 75.0* | 2.0[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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | – | – | Appalachia | Bituminous[1] | – | – |
Table 5: Ownership and parent company
| Owner | Parent Company | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|
| Lexington Coal Company LLC[1] | Lexington Coal Company LLC [100.0%] | USA |
Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)
| ROM or Saleable | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ROM | 0.11[1] | 0.17[1] | 0.18[1] | 0.08[1] | 0[1] | 0.0[1] | 0.01[1] | – | 0[2] |
Note: The above sections were automatically generated and are based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker May 2026 release.
Ownership Tree
This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.
Background
White Flame Surface Mine is a surface coal mining operation in Mingo County, West Virginia, United States.
2012 Mine closing
On September 18, 2012, Alpha said it was immediately closing eight mines in Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, cutting production by 16 million tons. They are a mix of deep and surface mines, all non-union operations. To meet the production cut the company said it will use a combination of mine and equipment idlings, production curtailments, and "mining out reserves" through early 2013. Alpha plans to shift its operations away from thermal coal used in domestic power generation to concentrate on metallurgical coal used in steelmaking overseas.[3] Altogether, the firm idled four mines in West Virginia, three in Virginia, and one in Pennsylvania:[4]
- MSHA ID: 4608632
- Operator: Lexington Coal Company
- Controller: Lexington Coal Holdings
- Union:
- Location: Mingo, West Virginia, United States
- Coorindates: 37.690131, -82.144800
- Production (short tons): 0.077923 million tons (2020)
- Coal Type: Bituminous
- Mining Method: Surface
- Mine Status: Active
- Average No. of Employees: 92
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.
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 https://www.msha.gov/data-and-reports/mine-data-retrieval-system.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 https://www.msha.gov/data-and-reports/statistics/mine-employment-and-coal-production.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ Vicki Smith, "Alpha closing 8 mines, cutting 1,200 jobs in all," Sep. 18, 2012.
- ↑ Mannix Porterfield, "Alpha to close four W.Va. mines," Register-Herald Reporter, September 19, 2012.
