Coal Age Magazine - For nearly 100 years, Coal Age has been the magazine that readers can trust for guidance and insight on this important industry.
Issue link: https://coal.epubxp.com/i/110818
news UMWA Miners, Retirees and Families Hold Protests in St. Louis UMWA and its supporters express anger. Photo: fairnessatpatriot.org More than 1,000 active and retired coal miners and their families from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia, marched on Peabody Energy headquarters in St. Louis on February 13. A similar rally was also held at the end of January. Ten people were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience in front of Peabody���s office tower in downtown St. Louis, including United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Secretary-Treasurer Dan Kane. The rally, organized by the UMWA to protest financial maneuvers that threaten to cut off health care benefits to former Peabody Energy employees, was also joined by union and community supporters, including members of the UAW, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and Jobs with Justice. The event came a day after Patriot executives filed a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis, seeking $6 million in ���retention bonuses��� for 120 ���key executives��� at Patriot Coal, while the company is demanding a cut-off of health care benefits to more than 22,000 retirees in desperate need of ongoing medical care. ���Peabody executives may know how to wheel and deal and hire $900-an-hour corporate lawyers,��� said Kane. ���But they don���t know the United Mine Workers. We���re not going to abandon our retirees, who �� B R E A K I N G Mechel Bluestone Resumes Production at Two West Virginia Projects Mechel OAO announced work will resume at several facilities in West Virginia operated by Mechel Bluestone. With coal markets improving, Mechel Bluestone resumed open-pit mining at the Justice Energy and Dynamic Energy mining complexes. The sites are set to produce 135,000 tons monthly. Both were idled in October 2012 following a decrease in demand. Mechel Bluestone���s washing plants continued operating, however, and all pre-existing obligations were fulfilled. Mechel Bluestone facilities elsewhere will resume operations as market conditions warrant. MSHA to Publish Pattern of Violations Final Rule A final rule, which revises the Mine Safety and Health Administration���s (MSHA) pattern of violations regulation in 30 N E W S Xinergy Divests Kentucky Thermal Coal Operations Xinergy Ltd., a central Appalachian coal producer, has announced the sale of its Straight Creek and Red Bird thermal coal mining operations in four Kentucky counties to JW Resources, Inc. for $47.2 million. The sale of the mines in Bell, Clay, Harlan, Knox and Leslie counties to affiliates of JW Resources, said Xinergy CEO Matt Goldfarb, ���furthers our efforts toward a greater mix of premium quality, mid-volume metallurgical coal production.��� 6 www.coalage.com spent their lives working underground and now must have the benefits they were promised.��� In 2007, Arch Coal, along with Peabody Energy, spun off a large chunk of its health care and retirement obligations to a new entity called Patriot Coal. Peabody assigned Patriot some 40% of its health care and pension liabilities but gave the new company only about 10% of its revenue-producing assets, and Arch Coal made a similar assignment of assets and liabilities. Patriot was not financially viable in a normal coal market, and the new company filed for bankruptcy protection in New York in July 2012. At the request of UMWA, the case was transferred to St. Louis, closer to homes of more than 22,000 retired mine workers who are former Peabody and Arch employees, and are at immediate risk of losing their health care. ���We���re enormously grateful to the union and community members who came out to support us,��� said Kane. ���We���re in this fight for as long as it takes, and we will do everything in our power to level the playing field between millionaire executives and retired miners who have critical illnesses and injuries after years of labor in hazardous conditions.��� The company still sees long-term prospects for low-cost Central Appalachian thermal coal mining ���favorably,��� he added of the deal including $38.2 million amid $20 million South Fork infrastructure costs. ���We believe this transaction is value enhancing, as we position our remaining assets for significant growth,��� said Goldfarb. The Knoxville-based Xinergy Ltd., through its Xinergy Corp. and other subsidiaries, mines in West Virginia and Virginia and retails thermal and metallurgical coal to utilities, steelmakers, trading firms and companies. February 2013