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higher production costs" compared to the same period a year earlier. Oxford's third-quarter total revenues were $94.5 million, including $73.1 million from coal sales, versus revenues of $87.6 million, including $84.7 million from coal sales, in the third quar- ter of 2013. Oxford modestly lowered its projected production and sales out- look for 2014. It now expects to produce 5.6 to 5.7 million tons and sell 5.7 to 5.8 million tons. The previous estimate called for produc- tion of 5.7 to 5.9 million tons and sales of 5.8 to 6 million tons. Booth Energy to Buy TECO Coal TECO Energy has confirmed a signed agreement with Booth Energy's Cambrian Coal Corp. for the sale of its coal mining sub- sidiary TECO Coal in a deal worth $170 million, completely remov- ing TECO from the coal mining business. Florida-based TECO said the price tag includes future contin- gent consideration of $50 million should certain coal benchmark prices reach certain levels over the next five years. The $120 million cash base purchase price is subject to post-closing adjustments. Pending regular closing conditions and the buyer's securing of financing, the transaction is expected to close by the end of the year. In the meantime, it is planning to issue a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice (WARN) to all team members "to allow the new owners maximum flexibility in the operations of the company." While the miner indicated that it opted to divest in a move to return to its core utilities business, TECO Energy Chief Executive Officer John Ramil noted that its TECO Coal arm has been an important component of its business mix since the mid-1970s, and during the decades it has contributed strong earnings and cash flow. The company expects to use sale proceeds to repay debt and for general corporate purposes. Also, as a result of the agreement, TECO Coal will be classified in the third quarter as an asset held for sale and its operating results will be reported as discontinued operations. TECO Energy will record a non-cash valuation adjust- ment of approximately $65 million, after tax, to the carrying value of TECO Coal to reflect the sales price. J.P. Morgan Securities acted as TECO Energy's financial advisor and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom acted as legal advisors. Deutsche Bank Securities acted as exclusive financial advisor, and Frost Brown Todd acted as legal advisors to Cambrian Coal. Alpha Selling AMFIRE Assets to Rosebud Mining The latest mergers and acquisitions movement in coal has been confirmed with Alpha Natural Resources' announcement that it will divest the assets of its AMFIRE division in Pennsylvania to pri- vately owned Rosebud Mining. The news of the $86 million deal, which includes $75 million in cash and the assumption of liabilities, was tucked inside Alpha's third-quarter earnings report on October 30. Alpha praised the deal with Pennsylvania-based Rosebud, call- ing it a "well-respected regional operator" offering both geograph- ic and transportation synergies. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year. AMFIRE production through September was approximately 1.7 million tons, including 1.2 million tons of metallurgical coal. It has n e w s c o n t i n u e d coal and supply to thermal power plants at an averaged price, the official said. The pricing regime proposal has been submitted to the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA), the apex government body for economic policy decision-making. It was expected to be put into play next month, before the government auctions coal blocks, which had been allotted earlier but canceled by the Indian Supreme Court for the arbitrary and illegal process adopted in awarding these blocks. Since the auction of coal blocks would take some time, the new import coal pricing mechanism would help CIL to increase imports and partially bridge the current demand-supply gap of the dry fuel, the official said. "We are analyzing the proposal and weighing in the pros and cons and will come up with a final import pricing soon," said Secretary to Coal Ministry S.K. Srivastava. Despite CIL being the largest miner in the country primarily tasked for supplies of coal to thermal power plants, there have been few takers for its import consignments since domestic coal was cheaper than imported consignments, the official said. While some thermal power producers were importing on their own, CIL would have to increase import contracts since more com- panies would now have to rely on the miner for feedstock supplies after the courts canceled allotment of 214 coal blocks awarded to various industries since 1993, they said. With pool price and offers at average of domestic and imported price, more companies would depend on CIL for their imported coal requirements, he added. Despite shortage of coal in the domestic market, CIL imported just 5 million tons during April-September when total coal imports into the country were estimated at 110.5 million ton, up 18% over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. CIL had appointed government-owned trading house, MMTC Ltd. to contract shipments on its behalf and was awaiting orders from companies, the official said. The imported coal blended with its domestic production would be supplied to thermal power plants, which were commissioned after 2009 but did not have assured fuel supply linkages. Glencore Miners on Strike in South Africa As many as 500 workers from a Glencore coal complex in South Africa have reportedly walked off the job over pay tied to planned job cuts. A spokesman for Glencore's South African operation, Gugulethu Maqetuka, told Bloomberg that the strike by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) at the Koornfontein coal mine began October 17. The workers have cited a compensation package offered for planned job cuts for its strike, he said. "[It] follows the decision by the company to offer retrenchment packages to employees as a result of restructuring at the mine, following difficult market condi- tions," Maqetuka told Bloomberg . According to the union's statement on the issue, Glencore offers more compensation elsewhere. "NUM is embarking on a strike because Glencore is paying NUM members at Koornfontein mine one week of service per year and in other operations it is paying three weeks," NUM officials reportedly said. Continued from p. 5... Continued on p. 8... 6 www.coalage.com November 2014