Much of the livelihood of Sweetwater County and Green River residents is contributed to the mines located nearby. Many of Green River’s residents are employed by the mines. The mines are a large contributor to the areas economic growth and sustainability.
One such mine, Tata Chemicals North America, one of the world’s leading producers of high-quality soda ash, hosted the dedication of Shaft seven on Monday.
Shaft seven is a new ventilation shaft at the Green River mine. The Green River mine is one of the largest soda ash facilities in North America.
“The dedication of ventilation shaft seven is a culmination of four years of hard work and dedication on the part of our team and our partners,” Martin Keighley, CEO and managing director of Tata Chemicals North America said. “Shaft seven will open nearly 1,000 miles of new rock face, effectively extending the mine’s life for a decade.”
The extending of the mine’s life, is effectively extending the economic life of the Green River community and Sweetwater County as a whole.
The life of the mines is a key component to the life and survival of the region.
“As a whole, it will help. Any sort of expansion will help; help keep people employed, keep people spending money at local businesses, keep people here,” Rebecca Eusek, executive director of Green River Chamber of Commerce, said. “It’s going to expand the lifetime of the mine, help with the workforce, the economy to be able to continue to keep mining because the shaft opens 1,000 miles of new rock face. Without that shaft, you can’t expand essentially.”
The Green River mine of Tata Chemicals has been an essential part of Green River’s economy for decades and will continue to be with the help of the ventilation of the new shaft.
The breath of life
Ventilation is an important element to the life of the 55-square mile mine.
“It (the shaft) provides sufficient air flow and ventilation for the mine to breath,” Paul Peterson, vice president, manufacturing at Tata Chemicals “Soda Ash” Partners said. “You have to remove methane from the environment to provide a safe work environment.”
Shaft seven is an exhaust shaft. There are four exhaust shafts and three intake shafts now in total. Intake shafts allow for fresh air to be brought into the mine. That fresh air sweeps through current working faces, where the miners are working. It removes the methane that is liberated from the mining face.
“When removing rock, methane is liberated,” Peterson said. “Methane is an explosive gas that needs to be removed from the working environment to make it safe.”
That is ventilated through the exhaust shafts, including the new shaft seven.
“The new shaft is about 13 miles away from the plant, and two or three miles away from the nearest ventilation shaft,” Peterson said. “The more mines grow, the more shafts are needed. We are on the outer reaches. At some point we’ll need an eighth shaft.”
Peterson says this is not unique for Tata; Tronox, Solvay and OCI all have multiple shafts for ventilation. About every ten years, they need to put another shaft in, he said. The shafts stay in use forever; shafts one through six are still being used, even in areas of the mine that are no longer occupied on a regular basis.
“Just because you’re out of one area, doesn’t mean you need to stop ventilating it,” Peterson said.
The Breath of Economy
The complex engineering project represents the largest capital expenditure, $26 million, by Tata Chemicals in the past 20 years. Although Tata North America is headquartered in New Jersey, their manufacturing operations are based in Green River.
“We are proud that one of the largest most innovative soda ash facilities in North America is located in Wyoming,” Governor Matt Mead said in his commemoration at the dedication of Shaft Seven. “Ventilation Shaft Seven is a significant project. It is a boon to the local economy and to Wyoming.”
Reader Comments(0)