The plant, which began operations in 1929, processed 7.6 million tons of coal in the past two years.
“Through the years, the facility has seen many upgrades, and was the first computerised preparation plant in the US," said Patriot president Paul Vining.
Big Mountain’s coal source has been one of Patriot’s company-operated mines, Big Mountain No. 16, as well as multiple contractor-controlled operations, all of which employ continuous miners for extraction.
After processing, the output from the Coalburg seam is transported by CSX railroads.
Patriot said last week that worker shortages, geologic conditions, mining permit delays, longwall problems and a rise in downtime due to more federal inspections had all played a role in an expected production shortfall during its third quarter.
The producer’s volume will total about 8 million tons, 1.4Mt less than anticipated.
“The scheduled longwall move in August at the Federal mine took longer than planned, and production shortfalls occurred at the Panther longwall mine due to adverse geology,” company officials said.
