I came across John’s card during my business card exploration recently. But I just filed it along with all the other coal/coke sales related cards (of which there were a few). That is, until I found a fax last weekend. As was expected at the time, a proper cover sheet would have to be filled out, potentially with a brief note. I was previously marveling at the Acme letterhead it was on, and the great condition. But the note was even better.
The actual fax was an application to become a member of the Western States Blast Furnace Association. I was sure this was yet another steel contact in Pittsburgh. I googled the area code and it came back as – Baltimore. Hmmm. Interesting. One more Google search after that and I hit pay dirt. And the next email brings us here. John was nice enough to take an afternoon for a quick Q&A.
I grew up in Columbus, Indiana and graduated from IU with a BS in Geology in 1973. Got hired by AMAX in late 1973 and started work in January 1974. They sent me to Gillette to drill out Belle Ayr North (Eagle Butte), then went to Billings for a few months then moved to Denver in the exploration group in November 1974. I left AMAX in 1994 after 20 years. I live in Severna Park, MD now.
AMAX was selling Cannelton/Maple Meadow low-vol, low sulfur, low-expanding met coal from West Virginia. The coal was barged to the Beemsterboer dock on the Calumet River then trucked to the plant. In the early 90s, Acme was buying around $100,000/yr of Maple Meadow coal.
They loved the Maple Meadow coal because it protected the ovens by not expanding. I visited the coke plant maybe every two or three months. There was a limited supply of MM met coal so I was lucky to have as much as I did for Acme. The coal quality at MM changed and then it ran out of reserves sometime after 1995.
John continues to work in the coal/coke business. Check out his website at hanouenergy.com
