Coal Age

DEC 2014

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Cliffs' Oak Grove coal mine in Alabama and Pinnacle coal opera- tion in West Virginia are not impacted by the sale. The producer said that it will continue to explore sale options for its other coal assets. Patriot Cuts 130 at Corridor G Making good on a promise sealed by a WARN Act notification in ear- ly September, Patriot Coal has immediately terminated the jobs of 130 workers at its Corridor G complex in West Virginia. "As a result of the challenging coal markets and the difficult reg- ulatory environment, Patriot Coal's Corridor G mining complex located near Madison...will be downsizing operations to reduce coal production costs," spokeswoman Janine Orf told Coal Age. "Approximately 130 hourly and salaried employees at that location will be impacted pursuant to...[that] notice," adding that all layoffs were effective November 21. The initial notice, required by federal law at least 60 days prior to a mass furlough, was released to 360 workers on September 9. The Corridor G complex, which includes the Hobet 21 operation and the Beth Station preparation plant, produced 2.3 million tons in 2013. Alpha Furloughs 60 at 3 More Mines Just days after announcing 36 job losses at its Cucumber complex in Appalachia, Alpha Natural Resources has confirmed a total of 60 layoffs at three more operations in West Virginia and Kentucky. The newest cuts are being taken at the Ruby Energy complex in Mingo County, West Virginia; Rock Spring Development in Wayne County, West Virginia; and Sidney Coal's Taylor Fork mine in Pike County, Kentucky, spokesman Steve Hawkins told Coal Age. All of the terminations were effective November 21, including 22 of 150 workers at the Ruby Energy mine (where the company is shutting down a mining section) and one of 30 on payroll at the Delbarton preparation plant. At Taylor Fork, 12 workers have been eliminated ahead of the mine's idling. The operation will keep 36 individuals for an undeter- mined period to assist in clearing out equipment and closing the operation. A portion of Rock Spring Development is also being shut down, and Alpha will slice 25 of 250 jobs at that complex. Some workers were being offered new positions at other Alpha mines, Hawkins noted, and no further closures to mines in its port- folio are planned at this time. Blankenship Pleads Not Guilty in Federal Court In his first court appearance since being indicted on four federal felony charges on November 12, former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship pleaded not guilty to all charges and is now free on bond. The 64-year-old former executive, who was in a Beckley, West Virginia, court November 20 to enter his plea, is facing up to 31 years in prison for criminal offenses including conspiracy to vio- late mandatory federal mine safety and health standards, conspir- acy to impede federal mine safety officials, making false statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and securities fraud. A majority of the charges tie directly to his involvement with Massey Energy in the wake of the Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine explosion in April 2010 that killed 29 workers. n e w s c o n t i n u e d ly, its railway transport annual capacity is planned to increase gradually up to 22 million mt, the port's coal shipping capacity is designed for 18 million tons annually and general commodities shipping capacity is expansible to 4 million tons annually. The total construction cost is expected to be approximately $4.4 billion, and part of the cost is planned to be funded with project finance from public financial institutions overseas and Japanese banks. India's NTPC to Emerge as Country's Second Largest Coal Miner India's largest power producer, NTPC Ltd., has set a high coal produc- tion target from its own mines to grow to be the country's second largest coal producer. "We expect more coal mines to be allocated to NTPC by the government and we are confident of achieving a produc- tion of 300 million metric tons per year (mtpy) over the next five years and become completely self-reliant in coal supplies," said Arup Roychowdhury, chairman and managing director, NTPC. At present, the power company requires 166 million mtpy of coal, 90% of which was supplied by Coal India Ltd. (CIL) to feed NTPC's aggregate ther- mal power generating capacity of 43,000 MW. Additional coal would be required for 33,000 MW of new thermal power capacity under plan- ning and various stages of implementation over the next five years. NTPC is planning to set up a separate division within the com- pany to be exclusively responsible for mining operations, a senior NTPC official said. The power generating company plans to fast- track development of 10 coal blocks already allotted to it by the government with an estimated reserve of 5 billion mt and potential to achieve an annual production of 100 million mtpy, the official said. To hit the 300-million-mtpy target, NTPC was banking on allo- cation of more coal blocks by the Indian government. Resolve Acquires More Land in Australia's Galilee Basin Acquiring more ground for its $1.2 billion Hyde Park coal project, Resolve Coal recently purchased 19 km 2 from Spinifex Rural Management Pty. Ltd. in Queensland's Galilee Basin. The acquisi- tion gives the project a significant portion of one of the two poten- tial rail routes to the North Galilee Rail Project, owned by Adani in the Galilee Basin Strategic Development Area, and placed the pro- ject within 16 km of Adani's Carmichael mine. Bumi Files for Protection from US Creditors Three units of Indonesia's biggest coal miner PT Bumi Resources Tbk has filed for protection from U.S. creditors after failing to make debt interest payments, a move that would give them more time to restructure debt, according to the Jakarta Post . The filing comes a week after Bumi Investment Pte Ltd., Bumi Capital Pte Ltd. and Enercoal Resources Pte Ltd. also obtained a six-month moratorium in a Singapore court against legal action from creditors. According to the latest U.S. filing, Bumi Resources and its three units have missed several interest payments since September on debts worth a total of $1.38 billion. Bumi Resources has to reach an agreement with its creditors or undergo a restructuring process under Indonesian law to achieve "a meaningful recovery" for its units and affiliates, Chief Financial Officer Andrew Beckham said in the U.S. court documents. Continued from p. 5... Continued on p. 8... 6 www.coalage.com December 2014

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