MOUNT CARMEL - Harmony Mine is one of just seven underground anthracite mines still in operation in northeastern Pennsylvania.
It is, however, producing a large quantity - and high quality - of anthracite, its operators say. And it's doing so with a technology common in the bituminous coal industry.
Harmony Mine, owned by UAE CoalCorp Associates, was the first anthracite mine to use a "continuous miner" machine. The large machine, with tracks like a bulldozer but with a lower profile to fit inside mines, has a steel drum on the front packed with teeth that continually extract coal as the machine creeps into a seam.
UAE contracted with West Point Coal Mining Inc., then located in western Pennsylvania, when it started with the continuous miner in 1994 because of the company's experience with the machines, said Rick Olaf, one of three partners in Harmony Mine. West Point, which is now locally owned, mines the coal at Harmony.
"We were able to adapt the continuous miner to our needs at Harmony because of the 15 years of experience of our foremen Greg Yurchak, Dennis Reichtler, Tom Bixler and mine superintendent Ivan Sweinhart," said Olaf, who has a degree in mining engineering from Penn State University. "They make it possible for us to learn as we go."
It was an important step for the mine.
"Adding the continuous miners tripled the output capacity," said partner Jeff Love. "We mined 115,000 raw tons in 2011, and we're looking at 50,000 raw tons for this year."
"We are always learning," added Olaf. "We had a (continuous) miner get stuck on coal and a MSHA inspector showed us how to slide iron rails under the tracks to let the miner walk itself out. It worked."
While some continuous miners are remote-control machines, Harmony Mine's two Lee Norse Model HH 265 miners have operators on board. The machines extract the coal and load it onto shuttle cars, which dump onto conveyors that take the coal some 1,100 feet to the surface.
Originally opened in 1990, Harmony is a flat drift mine that sits atop an anticline formation, an upward fold in the coal seam. It is located on a 34-acre site two miles south of Mount Carmel off Route 61, and also just a few miles from Centralia. The Harmony operation mines the Lykens No. 2 seam, a 60- to 72-inch thick mass of anthracite.
Other employees include Mike Scopelliti, part owner and maintenance manager; Jeff Straight, maintenance; Tim Lutz, business administration manager; and Wendy Jones, office manager.
Regarding output, Love, the partner responsible for coal sales, and also a PSU graduate with a degree in mining engineering, said most sales are made to steel mills and home heating outlets in the Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania areas.
"We sell all we produce," Love said. "Our coal is almost pure carbon, less polluting and great for steel mills."
But it is the employees that Harmony's owners like to focus on most.
"I am very proud of our people at Harmony Mine," said Olaf. "They came up with solutions when they were needed, and made the use of the continuous miner possible in an anthracite mine. Every day they face new challenges and overcome them. It's the people who get it done for us."