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transaction with Westmoreland "represents the culmination of those efforts and we believe that this represents a great opportuni- ty for our company, unitholders, employees and customers, as well as providing an MLP [master limited partnership] vehicle for Westmoreland and its shareholders." If its acquisition of 77% of Oxford is approved, Westmoreland plans to convert to an MLP. Oxford's name would be changed to Westmoreland Resource Partners LP. Oxford Mining, a subsidiary of Oxford, was formed in Ohio more than three decades ago. Ungurean added, "Oxford will become the MLP vehicle for Westmoreland, to which it intends to continue to contribute MLP appropriate assets, allowing Westmoreland to realize additional value for its shareholders as well. This is a great opportunity for both companies and we are thrilled to be joining with Westmoreland." The deal comes as Oxford reported a third-quarter adjusted net loss of $10.5 million, compared to a net loss of $5.1 million a year ago. Net income in the latest quarter would be $9.4 million when including the $19.5 million in proceeds paid to Oxford in August by Big Rivers Electric Corp. to resolve a longstanding breach of contract lawsuit. Big Rivers, a Henderson, Kentucky-based generation and trans- mission co-op, terminated an 800,000-ton contract with Oxford in early 2012. Although Oxford responded by suing the utility for breach of contract, the cancellation led to Oxford's gradual retreat from the high-sulfur Illinois Basin, where it had operated several mines in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Oxford closed its last mine in the western Kentucky county late last year and resumed emphasis on its Northern Appalachia roots. Like most other U.S. coal companies, Oxford has been adverse- ly affected by unfavorable conditions this past summer, including mild weather and low natural gas prices. "The mild summer significantly reduced electricity demand and impacted third-quarter results," Ungurean said. As a result, "customer stockpiles have been near capacity and have delayed shipments, but volumes should return to normal in the fourth quarter but some shipments will be pushed into 2015." Greg Honish, Oxford's senior vice president of operations, said the company's third-quarter production was "slightly below expectations, a result of decreased customer requirements. Tons per man-hour were in line, but reduced volumes contributed to n e w s c o n t i n u e d T O P 1 0 C O A L - P R O D U C I N G S T A T E S Kiev Ready to Buy Coal From Self-proclaimed Republics in Ukraine Kiev is ready to buy coal at cost price from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, said Ukraine's first deputy energy minister, stressing that it will be cheaper than buy- ing it from abroad. As freezing temperatures come to Ukraine, First Deputy Energy Minister of Ukraine Yury Zyukov said that the Kiev government is ready to buy some 2.1 million metric tons (mt) of coal, currently stored at warehouses on the territories controlled by independence supporters, RIA Novosti reported. "If we have a cost price of 650 hryvnia per ton (about $65/mt) without VAT, the price will be raised to 1,100 hryvnia per ton (about $85), then the balance will be at the price of buying this coal," he said, adding that "it will still be cheaper than buying it from abroad the way we do now." Zyukov elaborated that he is in talks with the management of the mines who are negotiating with the authorities of the self-proclaimed republics. He pointed out that the money paid for the coal "should go under control" and given directly to the miners "for us to understand that this money will be used for paying salaries and above all for paying the energy bills and solving the social issues in mining towns." Severstal Commissions 2 New Longwall Faces in Russia OAO Vorkutaugol, part of OAO Severstal, a leading steel producer and mining company based in Russia, commissioned two new long- wall faces at the Komsomolskaya mine in the Troynoy and Chetvertiy seams. The Chetvertiy face is expected to extract around 78,000 metric tons (mt) per month of coal at full capacity. The panel holds approximately 897,000 mt of coal. The Troynoy face will mine a panel of more than 930,000 mt at a rate of almost 115,000 mtpm. "Commissioning of two new coal faces will allow the company to complete the year according to the plan," said Eugeny Balukov, director of the Komsomolskaya mine. "Even though geological difficulties initially hampered the equip- ment installation phase, employees have overcome the issues and once again demonstrated high level of their qualification skills." South Africa Plans Record Shipments This Year Bloomberg reported that South Africa's Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), the world's biggest stand-alone facility for the fuel, plans record shipments this year after battling a power cut. "We are still on track to ship 72 million metric tons (mt) in 2014, compared with 70.2 million mt last year," said Nosipho Siwisa-Damasane, CEO of RBCT. It will be another record year." She also admitted that the forecast is less than the 73 million mt that RBCT originally planned. Faults on municipal power cables halted operations for 10 days in February, with the backlog cleared by the end of March. The facility seeks to handle about 75 million mt next year. India to Finalize 'Pool Price' Mechanism for Imported Coal in December The Indian government will finalize a coal import pricing regime by December to enable Coal India Ltd. (CIL) to step up inward ship- ment of the dry fuel, an official in the Coal Ministry said. The most favored option of the Coal Ministry was the "pooled price mecha- nism" under which CIL would import coal, blend it with domestic (in Thousand Short Tons) Week Ending (11/1/14) 2014 2013 % Change Wyoming 324,364 324,692 -0.1 West Virginia 95,481 96,286 -0.8 68,289 -0.8 Pennsylvania 49,778 46,339 7.4 Illinois 46,664 44,452 5.0 Montana 35,634 35,027 1.7 Texas 35,547 35,781 -0.7 Indiana 33,217 32,933 0.9 North Dakota 24,444 23,106 5.8 Ohio 20,745 21,698 -4.4 U.S. Total 829,872 828,913 0.1 Continued on p. 6... November 2014 www.coalage.com 5 W O R L D N E W S ¸ ˛ ˝ ¸