Shanxi Asian American-Daning Energy is a joint venture led by E. Morgan Massey, the retired chairman and CEO of Richmond-based Massey Energy. The group was awarded a mining license after close to four years of negotiation with the Chinese government, and has plans to commence longwall mining in late 2004.

Asian American holds mining concessions to three areas which host combined development of reserves exceeding 2 billion tonnes tons of low-sulphur steaming coal. Seam thickness ranges from 15 to 20 feet and roof conditions are believed to be good. At full capacity, Daning is expected to produce 5 million tons of coal annually over a mine life of 30 years.

Daning began producing coal in March with the use of two diesel-powered front-end loaders, called scoops.

Joy Mining Machinery, which has an office in Beijing, is about to dispatch a 12CM27 continuous miner from the US to Daning, which was expected to be delivered to the mine by early September.

“This will be the third 3.3kV high voltage miner in the eastern hemisphere,” said Paul Freeman, Joy general manager China. “The other two have recently started work at Sihe mine in the Jincheng Coal Group not far from Daning.”