AP reported that State regulators have given approval for a surface coal mine on private lands in southern Utah.

Alton Coal Development LLC plans to produce 1 million tonnes per year from a 400 acre parcel a few miles south of the town of Alton in Kane County.

The Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining said that Alton Coal will get an operating permit as soon as it posts USD 6 million reclamation bond. The division said that the Coal Hollow Mine will exhaust the private reserves in three to five years, when the company hopes to mine adjacent federal lands.

(Sourced from Associated Press)