A Family Owned and Operated Mine

Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc. is a family owned business. Joe Usibelli Jr. is President of the corporation and his father, Joe Usibelli is Chairman of the Board of Directors. UCM is headquartered in Healy, Alaska, and has permitted reserves in excess of 30 years at current production rates. Additional surface mineable coal resource is under lease and available for expansion as needed. UCM will produce 1.5 million tons of subbituminous coal this year and could easily double production if the market demanded. Coal is transported to six Interior Alaska electrical power plants - including three military sites: Fort Wainwright (U.S. Army), Eielson Air Force Base and Clear Air Force Station; Golden Valley Electric Association - Fairbanks' electric cooperative; Aurora Energy - a wholesale supplier of electricity and provider of district heat in Fairbanks; and the University of Alaska Fairbanks power plant. Additionally, UCM has exported coal to South Korea through the Seward Coal Terminal at the Port of Seward since 1984. The current contract is for 500,000 metric tons each year during a three-year period. During 1998, a 20,000-ton shipment of UCM coal was delivered to Magadan in the Russian Far East, a potential market. Over the years, UCM has also provided test shipments to Taiwan, Japan, and Chile.

The Environment is a High Priority

Four generations of the Usibelli family have lived in the vicinity of Healy. Because the mine is the family's backyard, it was no surprise that six years before it was required by Federal law; UCM pioneered a successful land reclamation program. The ultimate goal of reclamation is to reestablish a natural landscape on mined land. The land is contoured and then seeded with a carefully researched mixture of grasses and plants indigenous to northern regions. Local school children help collect cones from local trees to germinate seedlings for transplanting.
Laboratory testing proves that UCM coal is among the lowest sulfur coal produced in the world. Other environmental benefits of the coal include high calcium content and excellent performance in equipment designed to clean exhaust gas emissions. These environmental attributes make Usibelli coal attractive as an efficient, clean energy source.
UCM's commitment to innovative technology, to long-term involvement in Clean Coal Technology, to a pioneering reclamation program, and its dedication to environmental excellence has earned the mine a position of leadership in Alaska and in the U.S. coal industry.