Knight Hawk Coal Co. Plans $100 Million Coal Investment
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Over the next two years Knight Hawk Coal Co. will invest nearly $100 million in Southern Illinois coal reserve development, CEO Steve Carter told members of the Du Quoin Chamber of Commerce Wednesday at Alongi's.
The little coal company that "could" opened with only 12 employees in Jackson County's northern outback two decades ago and has become the coal company that "did." Today, Knight Hawk Coal Co. and its vested partner Arch Mineral Corp. own and operate four mines--growing to over 600 employees with a payroll and benefits of $40 million a year.
Listening to Steve Carter you don't know whether to be impressed by the numbers that after the Clean Coal Act became unthinkable or by the understated demeanor which is classic Carter.
This success story arrives at the same place where coal was king back in the 1970s and 1980s, but by a different path.
When Steve worked for Arch Mineral Corp. years ago the Captain surface mine in west Perry County was the largest surface mine east of the Mississippi River. It produced 10 million tons of coal a year and sold to four utilities. Steve said everyone worried when one of those four contracts was at risk.
By contrast, Knight Hawk Coal Co. this year will generate 5 million tons of coal and sell to 40 customers in the U.S. and abroad. Those customers may include the nation of Ghana in the coming months.
In its modest beginnings at the Creekpaum Mine near Ava and Campbell Hill, Knight Hawk was mining 15,000 tons of coal a month. "If we don't mine 20,000 tons a day now it's a bad day," Carter said.
The Creekpaum Mine was the first of four mines to be developed and its reserves will be the first to be exhausted. Yet, between the existing mines and the new Prairie Eagle mine he sees at least a 20-year life of Knight Hawk mining ahead in Perry, Jackson and Randolph counties.
He called today's planned meeting with the Randolph County board on zoning changes for mining there a little tougher meeting than last night's chamber meeting. There are between 600,000 and 1 million tons of coal reserves still in that area.
Coal historically has a tenuous relationship with the Sierra Club and the environmental group will certainly be standing in the front yard of Carter's plan to mine a 240-acre coal reserve inside Pyramid State Park (approved last year by the Illinois General Assembly), but he reminds the Sierra Club that Pyramid State Park is one of history's greatest reclamation projects and were it not for mining and Arch Mineral's stewardship of those properties outdoorsmen would not have Pyramid's beautifully pristine 80-foot deep "Super Lake" nor the beautiful birds that inhabit the area.
He said that in exchange for the Illinois legislature's consideration, Knight Hawk will gift the state the 240 acre parcel.
"We began investing $100 million in our operations last fall," said Carter. "We have been fortunate in our marketing. He said 100 percent of the coal being mined now is spoken for in 2012, 80 percent is spoken for in 2013 and 40 percent is already spoken for in 2014. We have our work cut out for us," he said.
"Coal is making a comeback in Illinois," he said. "After the Clean Air Act about 98 percent of the business went west because of cleaner coal." He said many utilities have since decided that it is cheaper to install scrubbers than it is to transport coal across the country. "In the last five years the trend has reversed and the demand for our coal has increased."
Illinois has four new long-wall mines opening.
Carter didn't mince words in talking about his hundreds of employees which he calls "family."
"I guess I'm for nepotism," he smiled. "My two sons work for me and I have one family that I think has seven people in it working for Knight Hawk."
Those employees are not only the best of Knight Hawk, but they are the best of the communities they come from. He talked a long time about the charitable acts of the company's employees.
"We have a Christmas party every year," he began. "Last year we held it at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Pinckneyville."
"They took a party and made it something for everyone," he said. He said employees donated 1,800 toys and generated $16,000 on their own for charitable giving. Knight Hawk Coal Co. matched it with their own $16,000 so charitable programs throughout the area saw a total of $32,000 in Knight Hawk giving during the holidays. "We hope to double that this year."
Just as there is good news in the Southern Illinois coalfields, there is bad news, Carter said. "I don't mean to be political. Our industry is in peril. Our president says he believes in ALL forms of energy, but it does NOT include coal," Carter said, He said the clear focus is on oil and natural gas. "It might hurt us, but I am also glad to see it. Natural gas is cheap and we use a lot of diesel," he said. "Coal has to compete," he said.
In a footnote to the night, Carter talked about safety and said Knight Hawk Coal Co. had a vision for miners' safety long before it became mandatory. He said from Day 1 at Knight Hawk things like underground shelters and "safe rooms" were a goal.
He said the company has seen one fatality on its property since the beginning, a man who delivered lumber on a semi and was supposed to be in the cab of his truck when a forklift full of lumber fell. "Instead, he was standing at the back of his truck." He was as heartbroken by the loss as anyone but added this kind of accident wasn't mining related and could have happened anywhere.
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