Rio Tinto Energy America

Mining coal on the Great Plains

Rio Tinto Energy America operates five coal mines in three US Great Plains states in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. These are the Antelope, Cordero Rojo, Jacobs Ranch and Spring Creek mines in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana and the Colowyo Coal Company mine in northern Colorado. Rio Tinto Energy America also holds a 50/50 joint venture interest in Decker Coal, another Montana coal producer.

The five main mines are all open pit operations. Once the coal, which is near the surface, is revealed it is released by blasting before being trucked to coal handling facilities where it is sized, blended and loaded into trains to meet customer specifications from across the US.

Rio Tinto Energy America produces approximately 120 million tonnes of coal per annum, making it America's largest producer of Western environmentally compliant, low-sulphur, low-ash coal.

The company is headquartered in Gillette, Wyoming and employs over 1,600 employees and the services of several hundred contractors.  It has a proven reputation of being one of the safest and most efficient energy producers in the world.  Rio Tinto Energy America sells to electricity generators in 27 US states and Canada.