The Bull Mountains Coal Mine No. 1 occupies an area of about 1725 acres in the Bull Mountains of southcentral Montana, in Musselshell and Yellowstone counties, 20 miles southeast of Roundup, Montana. Signal Peak Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Global Mining Group, owns the mine. It has been operating intermittently since it opened in 1907.
The mine records about 7.5 million tons of coal. In 2023, the mine employed about 145 people and produced about 6.877 million tons of coal. At the time, the remaining permitted coal reserves were 391 million tons.
The Bull Mountain coal exists at a depth of about 400-800 feet. The overburden and under-burden consist of alternating thin layers of rock, as well as clinker, coal, siltstone, sandstone, silty sandstone, and claystone. The coal seam is sub-bituminous thermal coal with low sulfur and ash content. Most of the coal is mined using the longwall method and the remaining development coal is extracted using the room-and-pillar method. The coal is washed to improve quality and shipped from an onsite tipple/rail car loading facility. The Bull Mountain Mine’s facilities include an underground mining operation, fixed conveyor systems, a centralized coal preparation plant, storage systems, and a railroad loadout station.
In August 2024, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality approved an expansion for the Bull Mountain Mine adding 12.7 million tons of coal to the existing permit. However, this decision is currently under contention in court (as of November 2024), owing to its environmental impacts.
Apart from the environmental effects of carbon dioxide produced from the burning of coal, prolonged exposure to coal dust is associated with black lung diseases or coal workers’ pneumoconiosis. These illnesses occur when inhaled coal dust causes inflammation and fibrosis (thickening and scarring) of lung tissues. Other diseases linked to coal dust exposure include COPD/emphysema, silicosis, and bronchitis. The risk of developing coal mining diseases increases with the duration, frequency, and character of the exposure to coal dust, and it may take 10 years or more for the symptoms to occur after initial exposure.
File a claim for black lung benefits
Miners affected by coal workers’ pneumoconiosis and their survivors can file for Black Lung Benefits. To succeed in a black lung claim, you’ll require the help of an experienced black lung attorney because coal mining companies have strong legal teams representing their interests. Contact black lung claimant attorney Hugh Stephens to help you file a black lung claim or assist you with the claim process if you believe you may have respiratory problems resulting from your coal mining employment. He will help you through the tedious claim process that involves testifying about your or the miner’s employment and illness, gathering and presenting medical evidence, and challenging a denial, if necessary. Miners do not pay any lawyer fees even when their benefits are approved. Your last coal mine employer (where you worked for one year) is responsible for these benefits and attorney fees if your claim is accepted. If your employer is not able to pay, the Black Lung Trust Fund pays these amounts.
If your claim is successful, you will receive monthly payments and medical benefits which include prescription drugs, in-patient and out-patient services, and doctors’ visits. Other medical services are also provided with a doctor’s prescription, such as home oxygen and other medical equipment, home nursing services, and pulmonary rehabilitation.