Youngs Creek Coal Mine

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Youngs Creek Coal Mine is a shelved coal mine in Sheridan, Wyoming, United States.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Youngs Creek Coal Mine Sheridan, Wyoming, United States 44.9947173, -106.9785339 (approximate)

The map below shows the approximate location of the coal mine:

Loading map...

Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status Status Detail Project Type Opening Year Closing Year
Shelved Permitted Recommission

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.
Capacity (Mtpa) Production (Mtpa) Year of Production Mine Type Mining Method Mine Size (km2) Mine Depth (m) Workforce Size
0.9071847 Surface 60* *

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
408.23325 Powder River Basin Bituminous Met

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner Parent Company Headquarters
Navajo Nation[1] Navajo Nation USA

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the GEM April 2024 Global Coal Mine Tracker dataset.

Background

Youngs Creek Mine is a proposed coal mine, owned by the Navajo Transitional Energy Company, after acquisition by Cloud Peak Energy, with a proposal to mine 1 million tonnes per annum, near Sheridan, Wyoming, United States. 

With no updates in 3 years, the project is presumed shelved. Youngs Creek mine is an undeveloped mine 13 miles north of Sheridan, Wyoming. The site was first permitted to mine coal in 1976 before the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 existed, and before Wyoming had taken over the permitting and regulation of coal mining. Mining was suspended at Youngs Creek between 1980 and 1993. Reclamation for the original operations was finished in 1996.[2]

Cloud Peak Energy acquired Youngs Creek Mine in 2012 for $300 million. Youngs Creek contained approximately 450 million tons of in-place coal at the time Cloud Peak purchased it. The acquisition also included 38,800 acres and extended the border with Cloud Peak’s Spring Creek Mine, 7 miles to the north.[3]

Cloud Peak’s application with the Army Corps of Engineers shows mining development at Youngs Creek will impact two nearby waterways starting in 2020, and continued operations would affect two streams between 2020 and 2046, with cleanup and reclamation scheduled for 2051. The project would also impact 20 acres of wetlands, more than 11,000 feet of stream, and would temporarily divert a stream.[2]

Since acquiring the mine, Cloud Peak has performed exploratory drilling, conducted boundary revisions, and updated its permits, but has not yet extracted coal.[2] A project timeline has not yet been announced.[3]

In August 2019, it became clear that Cloud Peak Energy was bankrupt, and they sold their three coal mines — Cordero Rojo mine, Antelope mine, and Spring Creek mine — to the Navajo Transitional Energy Company.[4] It was unclear if Youngs Creek was included in that sale, but by February 2020, the Navajo Transitional Energy Company applied to transfer permits of the Youngs Creek mine.[5]

  • Sponsor: Navajo Transitional Energy Company
  • Parent Company: Navajo Nation
  • Location: Sheridan, Wyoming, United States
  • GPS Coordinates: 44.9947173, -106.9785339 (approximate)
  • Status: Shelved
  • Production Capacity: 1 million tons per year[6]
  • Total Resource:
  • Mineable Reserves: 285 Mt Proven and Probable[7]
  • Coal type:
  • Mine Size: 38,800 acres (concession)
  • Mine Type: Surface
  • Start Year: TBD
  • Source of Financing:

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. https://web.archive.org/web/20240125050049/https://navenergy.com/about-ntec/. Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "An old Sheridan coal mine shows signs of life" The Casper Star-Tribune, Feb. 13, 2017.
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Permit revision approved for Youngs Creek mine" The Sheridan Press, March 30, 2018.
  4. Camille Erickson, "Bankrupt Cloud Peak finds new owner for its Wyoming mines," "The Casper Star Tribune," August 19, 2019.
  5. NTEC, state have agreement on sovereign immunity, Gillette News Record, Feb 13, 2020
  6. "Long shuttered Wyoming coal mine could produce by next year" The Casper Star-Tribune, May 11, 2018.
  7. NTEC Presentation, October 10, 2019