Northern  Appalachian  thermal  coal  producer  B&N  Coal  expects to receive final regulatory 

approvals  in  about  a  month  for  its  new Whigville surface operation in Noble County, Ohio,

with production set to start this summer, a company official said Monday. 

"We're  in  the  final  review  stage" for  a permit from the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources 

Management, Roger Osborne, chief engineer for the Dexter City, Ohio-based company, said 

in an interview. "We're ready to move on it right now." 

B&N also needs final approvals from the US Army Corps of Engineers and US Environmental 

Protection Agency, both of which are believed to be forthcoming. 

Osborne  said  he  will  part  of  a  small Ohio contingent that plans to travel to Washington in 

April  to  meet  with  representatives  of  several  federal  agencies  that  have  at  least some 

oversight over coal mining, including the Army Corps, EPA, Office of Surface Mining, US Fish and  Wildlife  Service  and Mine Safety and Health Administration. The trip was been delayed 

somewhat because the Ohio officials are waiting for the Trump administration to fill numerous 

vacancies in the federal agencies. 

Whigville  is  a  greenfield  mining  project for B&N, which usually focuses on remining former 

active coal mining sites. Production is expected to start in June, Osborne said. 

The  new  mine  is  targeted  to produce about 150,000 st/year of high-sulfur coal for the US electric  utility  market. Currently, B&N  is  mining  four separate sites, three in Noble County 

and  the  other  in neighboring Washington County. The company expects to produce about 

500,000 st in 2017, Osborne said. 

B&N filed the 163.3-acre Whigville permit application in May 2016 with ODMRM, a division of 

the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. 

The company is eager to start up the new mine to replace a nearby existing operation that is 

ready to close.