Welcome to Big Metal Coal TM
Big Metal Coal Co. LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cloud Peak Energy Inc., established for the purpose of developing and mining high quality sub-bituminous coal on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. Big Metal and the Crow Tribe signed an Exploration Agreement and an Option to Lease Agreement on January 24, 2013 during a signing ceremony in Crow Agency. These agreements were approved by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and provide Big Metal the opportunity to explore and define up to 1.4 billion tons1 of in-place coal in the southwestern portion of the Reservation and to potentially exercise rights to lease all or portions of this coal for mining, subject to additional regulatory approvals.
If Big Metal exercises its options to lease, mining on the Reservation likely would be supported by the existing operations and rail loadout infrastructure at Cloud Peak Energy’s Spring Creek Mine, which is located in Montana just off the Reservation to the east. The high-quality, low-sulfur Crow coal could meet demand for electric generating stations in the U.S. or Asia, helping to provide a safe, reliable and affordable source of energy and significant economic opportunity for the Crow Tribe.
As a Cloud Peak Energy company, Big Metal is actively committed to health, safety, environmental and community values. For more information on our commitment, visit the Environmental and Cultural Resource Protection page on this site.
1Represents a current estimate of physical in-place coal tons. Does not represent proven and probable reserves, non-reserve coal deposits or a forecast of tons to be produced and sold in the future. Future production and sales of such tons, if any, are subject to exercise of options and significant risk and uncertainty.
