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For the last year or two, the coal business as a whole has been mired in an environment characterized by weak demand and soft prices. Most of the news emanating from the sector has been dire, with layoffs and mine closings. However, one particular area of coal production, longwall mining, is per- forming rather well in general. This year, one longwall face was added to Coal Age's U.S. Longwall Census and two longwall faces were removed. White Oak Resources started a new longwall system in Illinois. Alpha Natural Resources is only operating one longwall face at the Emerald mine in Pennsylvania instead of two. Energy West announced that it would close the Deer Creek mine in Utah. Year-on-year, the total number of mines remains the same (42), but the number of longwall faces dropped to 47 from 48. Five mines operate two longwall faces. Total production from U.S. longwall mines grew at a surprising clip last year. Collectively, U.S. longwall installations pro- duced more than 207 million tons in 2014, a 10.1% increase over 2013. The four top-pro- ducing longwall complexes operate two faces each and three of them produced more than 10 million tons. Last year, 20 longwall installations produced at a capaci- ty of 5 million tons per year (tpy) or more. Among the top four, CONSOL Energy's Baily and Enlow Fork mines in Pennsylvania continued to hold the No. 1 and No. 2 posi- tions, respectively. Last year, Bailey pro- duced more than 12.3 million tons. Murray American Energy's Marshall County mine in West Virginia (formerly known as McElroy) moved above the 10-million-tpy mark last year. Foresight Energy's Sugar Camp mine in Illinois produced more than 9 million tons. The three top longwall operators are Murray Energy, CONSOL Energy and Foresight Energy. Murray Energy produced 60 million tons from 10 longwall mines (11 longwall faces), an 8.8% increase from 2013. CONSOL Energy produced more than 30 million tons from four mines (six longwall faces), a 14.9% increase over 2013. The Harvey mine added 3.2 million tons to the CONSOL Energy mix. Foresight Energy grew production organically to more than 21 million tons from three longwall mines (four longwall faces), a 17.8% increase over 2013. On a productivity basis (tons per man-hour), the three Foresight mines were ranked highest in 2014. As a group, these three coal companies produced 111.3 mil- lion tons from 21 longwall faces, which amounted to a 12.1% increase of 2013. Several mines operating individual long- wall faces posted some impressive num- bers in 2014. BHP's San Juan mine in New Mexico moved into the No.5 position. It produced 8.8 million tons in 2014, com- pared to 6 million tons in 2013. Alliance Resource Partners' Tunnel Ridge mine in West Virginia produced 5.6 million tons, a nearly 2-million-ton increase over 2013. Alpha Natural Resources' Cumberland mine in Pennsylvania produced 7.4 mil- lion tons last year, a 32.5% increase over 2013. Production also increased at Alpha's Emerald mine in Pennsylvania during 2014. The company, however, idled one of the two longwall faces at Emerald. It will continue to operate the face with the 2-m shields until the longwall-minable reserves are exhausted at year-end. Murray American Energy's performance last year would silence anyone questioning its ability to operate the mines it acquired from CONSOL Energy. In addition to the performance of the previously mentioned Marshall County mine, the other four mines — Harrison County (Robinson Run), Ohio County (Shoemaker), Marion County 30 www.coalage.com February 2015 u . s . l o n g w a l l c e n s u s US Longwall Operators Ramp Up Production B Y S T E V E F I S C O R , E D I T O R - I N - C H I E F Mines designed specifically for high-capacity longwall production hit their stride Table 1—Longwall Installations by Parent Company (2014-2015) Company Ala. Colo. Ill. Mont. N.M. Ohio Pa. Utah Va. W.Va. Wyo. Total Alliance Resource Partners 2 2 Alpha Natural Resources 2 2 AmCoal 2 2 American Energy 1 1 Arch Coal 1 2 3 BHP Billiton 1 1 Blue Mountain Energy 1 1 Bowie Resource Partners 1 2 3 Cliffs Natural Resources 1 1 2 CONSOL Energy 5 1 6 Drummond 1 1 FMC Corp. 1 1 Foresight Energy 4 4 Murray American Energy 6 6 Ohio Valley Coal 1 1 Pacific Minerals 1 1 Patriot Coal 2 2 Peabody Energy 1 1 Signal Peak Energy 1 1 Solvay Chemicals 1 1 UtahAmerican Energy 1 1 Walter Energy 3 3 White Oak Resources 1 1 Total 5 4 7 1 1 2 7 3 1 13 3 47