New Mine Coming to Perry County by 2015
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[St. Louis-based Arch Coal, Inc. will contribute to coal's comeback in Southern Illinois with the opening of the new "Lost Prairie" underground mine in northern Perry County by 2015.
Arch now owns 42 percent of Knight Hawk Coal Company which operates in Perry, Jackson and Williamson counties and is working to open the Lost Prairie Mine near the northern Perry County town of Winkle on an 848 acre site by 2015.
The mine itself would use only 440 acres of the land owned by the Prairie Coal Company.
The Perry County Board approved a 10-year special use zoning permit for Prairie Coal Company. Ron Balch of Midwest Reclamation said he has been working on the project for 18 months with Jim Kliche and David Finnerty of Arch. The mine has received emission permits and continues to work to get the remaining permits necessary to open the mine.
Representatives from Arch said they hope to report back to the board on their progress in six to nine months. The mine would be developed after coal commitments are secured.
They project would be completed sometime between 2012 and 2015.
Initial construction costs would be $250 to 300 million.
The Lost Prairie Mine anticipates employing 240 to 260 people with payroll and benefits of $25-30 million and an equal amount spent in materials, supplies, parts and services.
Lost Prairie would mine about 3.5 million tons of coal a year.
The Perry County Zoning Board recommended the special use permit after determining the mine's entry is more than 500 feet from area residences and coal handling facilities are more than 1,000 feet from residences.
"You have a good site there," Board Chairman Bobby Kelly said, noting that the mine is centered on the 848 acre site, providing more than adequate screening from any residences.
In other business, the board:
approved ordinances to rezone property in Pinckneyville from R2 to Commercial to allow for the development of the Caring and Sharing Thrift Shop on the east side of Main Street and to rezone 165 acres on the west side of Trico Road from Agriculture to Industrial. The thrift shop permit was for Kenny Bozeman. Perry County applied for the second permit, which expands the industrial area around Midwest Transload.
approved special use permits for mobile homes for Larry Haggemeier on Foxglove Road, George Hestand on Kendall Acres Road and Shirley Smith on East Mill St. in Cutler.
heard from Bruce Hicks that the county graded Box Elder Road, but did not resurface it. He asked if the board could get that done before winter. The road is very rough and will only get worse in the winter. Chairman Kelly said he would speak to County Engineer Doug Bishop about the problem.