Properties

Who We Are

Rio Tinto Energy America is a Delaware corporation with headquarters in Gillette, Wyoming.  Rio Tinto Energy America is part of the Rio Tinto Group, a group of companies owned by Rio Tinto Limited and Rio Tinto plc. Rio Tinto is a world leader in finding, mining and processing the earth’s mineral resources. The Group’s worldwide operations supply essential minerals and metals that help to meet global needs and contribute to improvements in living standards.

Rio Tinto Energy America is the world’s largest producer of low-sulfur, sub bituminous Powder River Basin coal and is one of the safest and most efficient energy producers in the world. With a combined workforce of approximately 2,100 employees, and with the assistance of hundreds of contractors and suppliers, the company provides the fuel to generate nearly six percent of the nation’s electricity.

How We Started

Rio Tinto founded Rio Tinto Energy America when it acquired the Spring Creek and Antelope coal mines from PacifiCorp Holdings, Inc., on June 2, 1993, as part of the purchase of NERCO, Inc. Two days later the Cordero Mining Company was purchased from Sun Company, Inc. The company then acquired Colowyo Coal Company L.P. in 1994 from W.R. Grace Company, and Caballo Rojo, Inc. from Drummond Company, Inc. in 1997. Operational management of Cordero and Caballo Rojo were merged in 1997 to form the Cordero Rojo Coal Mine.  Rio Tinto Energy America acquired Jacobs Ranch mine from Kerr-McGee Corporation in 1998. After each acquisition production from the acquired mine increased substantially.

Coal

Rio Tinto Energy America oversees operations in five surface coal mines in the Western United States. The company’s Powder River Basin mines are: the Spring Creek mine, located in Montana’s Big Horn County near Decker, in the state’s southeast corner; and the Cordero Rojo, Jacobs Ranch and Antelope mines, located south of Gillette in northeastern Wyoming’s Campbell and Converse Counties. The Colowyo Mine is located in the Uinta Basin of northwest Colorado near the communities of Craig and Meeker. Kennecott Energy also owns 50 percent of Decker Coal located in southeastern Montana.