RACINE — Coal has been tied to the history of Meigs County nearly from its beginning and though its absence has been felt for the last several years, Meigs now has its next producing coal mine in Gatling, Ohio LLC’s, Yellowbush Mine.

According to a Gatling spokesperson, the slope at the Yellowbush Mine touched coal on Jan. 29 and the room-and-pillar operation is now producing coal. Though the production of coal at the site is not operating at full capacity while in its mine development production mode, make no mistake about it, coal is being mined in Meigs County once again. When the mine is operating at full capacity, Gatling, Ohio LLC hopes to produce 3.5 million marketable tons of coal per year.

The 1,410 foot slope into the mine has been completely driven and was driven successfully “without any accidents or falls,” according to Gatling, Ohio LLC. For now when the coal comes out of the slope it goes onto a raw coal stacking conveyor and is carried from the slope to the raw coal stock pile where it will be kept in storage until the preparation plant is finished, hopefully sometime in early March.

The Yellowbush Mine’s docking facility along the Ohio River called Meigs Point Dock, was also issued its 404 permit by the United States Army Corps of Engineers last week. This permit allows construction of the barge fleeting facility to begin and be located along Ohio 124 near Antiquity as well as the Racine Boat Ramp and Yellowbush Creek. Gatling, Ohio LLC anticipates initial construction on Meigs Point Dock to begin Feb. 23 and last for approximately a 10 week period depending on the cooperation of the Ohio River. Though a Gatling spokesperson said the Meigs Point Dock portion of the project was running “a little behind” it was not far enough behind for the mine to have to truck coal to buyers.

Coal will continue to be mined and stored while the preparation plant is planned for completion in March and Meigs Point Dock in May.

The spokesperson added there are approximately 30 coal miners currently working at the site and when fully operational that number should run from 120-150 miners. Currently the company is looking for experienced people and are finding employees at job fairs. The company is also working with the the University of Rio Grande’s Fultz Center which has been holding classes for inexperienced miners to receive training.