North American Coal Opens Coyote Creek

Coal Age

Given today's "war on coal" and the bankruptcy of at least three coal mining companies, I'm surprised that a Marion 8400 dragline was disassembled in Elkford, British Columbia, hauled to Mercer County, North Dakota, and reassembled with brand new guts. In particular, its DC machinery was replaced with AC Variable Frequency Control machinery as has happened with diesel locomotives.

I was further surprised that it is going to mine lignite. Lignite is the grade of coal below bituminous coal, which is below anthracite. I wonder how high the sulfur content is of the lignite. Currently only 8% of the coal mined is lignite because of its low BTU content. (SearchForBottom)

Please follow the link under the photo and scroll down for some photos of the reconstruction in progress.