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A total of 12 mines in Northern Appalachia cranked out more than 1 million tons of coal each in the third quarter, helping boost pro- duction from the region, and more than half of those mines are held by one company that dramatically increased its footprint in the basin late in 2013. An SNL Energy analysis of U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) data showed that the top 25 producing coal mines in the Northern Appalachia basin produced a cumulative 25.5 million tons of coal in the third quarter, up from 22.4 mil- lion tons in the year-ago period. In the 12 months ending with the most recent quar- ter, the mines produced nearly 102 million tons of coal, up from 94 million tons. The region has been expanding produc- tion as it continues to attract market share and employees from the Central Appalachia basin to the south. However, Northern Appalachia producers still struggle with intense competition from natural gas, as well as coal from regions where production is cheaper, such as the Illinois Basin. Murray Energy owns seven of the 12 mines that produced more than 1 million tons of coal in the third quarter. Its top pro- ducer in the third quarter, the Marshall County mine, produced 2.85 million tons of coal during the period. Marshall is one of five mines that Murray acquired from CONSOL Energy for $3.5 billion in 2013. The Ohio County, Harrison County, Marion County and Monongalia County mines acquired in the same purchase also all reported output that placed them among the top 25 mines in the region. Murray Energy's seven top-producing Northern Appalachia mines generated more than 11.5 million tons of coal in the third quarter alone. The same mines pro- duced 45 million tons in the 12 months end- ing in the third quarter. For the 12-month period, the Century and Powhatan No. 6 (Ohio Valley) mines were the only Murray operations in the region that reported decreased production. Murray Energy reported that the increased productivity and increased production shifts boosted production at the CONSOL Energy mines. Despite increasingly focusing on its gas operations, CONSOL continues to hold the two top producing coal mines in the basin. The Bailey mine out-produced every mine in the region, reporting 3.1 million tons of coal in the quarter, an increase of 10.8% from the 2.8 million tons of coal production reported in the year-ago quarter. "Our marketing effort for our Bailey coal brand is unfolding just as we had strategical- ly envisioned," CONSOL President and CEO Nick DeIuliis said. "We are out there tactical- ly executing term business with must-run power plants that are in our core market regions for the next three years." marketwatch 22 www.coalage.com December 2014 Northern Appalachian Operators Report Increased Production