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Arch acquired a one-third interest in Knight Hawk, eventually increasing its stake to 49%. Carter believes his company mined a little more than 4.8 million tons last year from its five surface and underground operations, although annual tonnage figures are not yet official. He has high hopes for 2015 as well. "We've got all our coal sold for 2015," he said, "a slight volume increase (though) pricing is about the same." Total output is expected to surpass 5 million tons for the first time this year, in part because of the new American Eagle portal being built about five miles east of the company's Prairie Eagle portal near Percy in Perry County. Prairie Eagle is Knight Hawk's largest mine, extracting about 3 million tons in 2014. Mining should commence at American Eagle by midyear, almost certainly, at least in the third quarter, he said. "We had to amend the permit and add some area, which slowed us down a bit." Also, "we've been battling the weather." Later this year, Knight Hawk hopes to be issued a permit for its newest mine, the Golden Eagle surface and highwall job near Pinckneyville in Perry County. The company entered into an agree- ment a couple of years ago with the state of Illinois to use part of the 19,701-acre Pyramid State Park as a staging area to mine 240 acres of private, adjacent land purchased by Knight Hawk. "It should get going sometime in 2015," he said. "We're hoping it will be fairly developed by fall." Golden Eagle is expected to produce 400,000 to 500,000 tons annually for eight or nine years. Carter believes Knight Hawk's Lone Eagle dock on the Mississippi River near Chester, Illinois, gives it an advantage on many ILB com- petitors. About 80% of the company's coal is shipped by barge from Lone Eagle, which can load 1,600 tons an hour. "We're really the only one on the Mississippi River from the ILB," he said. And while foreign exports have not been crucial for Knight Hawk, which focuses heavily on the U.S. electric utility market, they could grow in importance in the coming years. Thanks to the dock, "we've got as good transportation to the Gulf of Mexico as any- body." Murray Energy Anticipates Increase in Production This Year Murray Energy Corp., the largest privately owned coal company in the United States, plans to produce about 66.3 million tons of steam coal in 2015, a slight increase over 2014, although it expects coal markets to remain "severely depressed" this year and beyond. The St. Clairsville, Ohio-based company expected to close 2014 with about 65 million tons of output for the year, although final num- bers were not yet available in January. n e w s c o n t i n u e d 18 www.coalage.com January 2015 West Virginia Miners Recognized for Safety, Reclamation Efforts Dozens of operations from across West Virginia were recently honored for safety achievements and reclamation during the West Virginia Coal Association's (WVCA) 42 nd Annual Mining Symposium. The event was held January 28-30 at the Civic Center in Charleston. In all, 54 operations were recognized for safety and 13 received honors for reclamation during the last calendar year. Topping the list of award winners was Catenary Coal Co.'s Sample mine, which took home the Barton B. Lay Milestones of Safety Award. Other Mountaineer Guardian Award winners included Walker Machinery in the independent contractor category and Keyrock Energy in the contractors segment. Underground, the following mines were bestowed plaques for their achievements: Red Bone Mining; Ten Mile Coal's No. 4 mine; Tunnel Ridge's Sentinel operation; XMV's No. 35 mine; Spartan Mining's Lower War Eagle and Road Fork No. 51 mines; Raw Coal's Sewell R; Pinnacle Mining; Mingo Logan Coal's Mountaineer II; Emerald Processing's Eagle operation; Elk Run Coal's Rockhouse Powellton; Maple Coal Co.'s No. 1; Selah Corp.'s Mine No. 2; ICG Beckley's Beckley Pocahontas mine; the Kingston No. 1 operation and Speed Mining's American Eagle complex. In the surface segment, the following mines all earned Mountaineer Guardians: L.P. Minerals' Humphrey No. 7 and Ralph Six mines; Extra Energy's Low Gap; Chestnut Land Holdings' Dalton Branch Refuse; Onyx Energy's Weyanoke operation; Extra Energy's State Line and Easter Ridge surface mines; Independence Coal's Twilight MTR/Progress complex; Highland Mining's Reylas operation; Coal River Mining's No. 6; Cliffs Logan Co. Coal's Tony's Fork; Thunder Hill Coal Callisto; Maple Coal No. 1; JMAC Leading's Briar Mountain; ARJ Construction No. 1; and South Fork Coal's Blue Knob complex. Finally, 13 preparation plants also were bestowed awards. They includ- ed ACI Tygart Valley's Leer prep plant; Carter Roag Coal's Star Bridge plant; the Tunnel Ridge preparation facility; Pinnacle Mining's preparation plant; Litwar Processing's Easter Ridge; Emerald Processing's South Hollow plant; Coal River Processing's Fork Creek facility; the Cliffs Logan Co. Coal Saunders preparation plant; Maple Coal preparation plant; ICG Beckley's Beckley Pocahontas; Brooks Run No. 1 prep plant; Simmons Fork Mining; and Catenary Coal's Tom's Fork loadout. Reclamation Awards Xinergy's South Fork Coal Co. Clearco preparation plant in Greenbrier County claimed the state's top award for environmental stewardship, the Greenlands Award, at the annual WVCA event. 2 0 1 5 A W A R D S % Catenary Coal Co.'s Tom's Fork loadout, located in Kanawha County, collect their Mountaineer Guardian Award at the WVCA luncheon.