Company developing coal plant in LeFlore County

Thursday, December 1st 2005, 6:14 am

By: News On 6

POTEAU, Okla. (AP) -- A subsidiary of power company AES Corporation plans to develop a new coal mining operation near Spiro that's expected to employ as many as 50 full-time employees when fully operational.

Coal Creek Minerals expects the mine in LeFlore County to be operational by February and in full production by the middle of 2006.

Company officials say they anticipate an annual payroll between $3-million and $4-million.

Once fully operational, the company expects to produce 400,000 tons of coal each year from the mine over a 15-year period.

AES operates a coal-fired co-generation power plant in Poteau that has operated since 1991.