Mine 2 is a surface and underground mine complex that employs a highwall miner to
mine marginal strip/underground coal. The mine produces about 2.7 million tons of coal,
annually, with approximately 200,000 tons from the highwall miner. The highwall miner
is used only intermittently and is capable of 3,000 tons/day of coal production. Coal is
recovered from the Herrin No. 6 coal seam with surface mining used to extract some coal
from the Springfield No. 5 seam. The highwall miner is able to extract coal from surface
highwalls without additional stripping thus economically extracting coal with minimal
surface impact and cost.