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12 www.coalage.com July/August 2017 news continued WNEC recently entered into an engagement agreement with Piper Jaffray to raise up to $80 million in debt financing to build a 2-million-ton CCTI Pristine M Plant in the Powder River Basin. "We are excited about the opportunity to support WNEC and pursue funding for the use of CCTC's advanced technology for processing coal and waste coal in what we hope is this first of many such projects," said George Longo, managing direc- tor and lead project finance banker at Piper. "We appreciate being a supporter of our client's monetization of an abundant U.S. energy resource." "This is a U.S.-designed, engineered and tested technology and we are very pleased to see it deployed here in the U.S., where we will continue to work with Wyoming on additional agreements and locations," said COO Aiden Neary. "We are working with Kiewit in completing some additional client-requested tests at our Test facility in Oklahoma. This will also enable Kiewit to de- sign the first commercial module. "The financial support from Piper Jaffray echoes not only confidence in the Pristine M technology, but also confidence in the U.S. coal industry. The local knowledge from WNEC should ensure a seamless commercial build-out." "U.S. government and private finance will encourage our overseas interests from India, Indonesia, Turkey, Australia and China to take a more aggressive approach to building commercial units in their countries," said CEO Robin Eves. "We are looking forward to hosting them at our Test Plant in Oklahoma during the summer prior to its move to Wyoming in early Fall." Indiana Utilities See Steam Coal Supplies Falling Steam coal inventories were falling for most Indiana electric utili- ties at the start of summer, suggesting a few months of hot, steamy weather — typical for the region — could induce them back into the market, at least for spot supplies, before the onset of winter. Northern Indiana Public Service Co. was not experiencing any coal supply issues due to the financial struggles of some coal producers, Michael Eckert, senior utility analyst for the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC), told Indiana regu- lators in late June. Nipsco, a subsidiary of Merrillville, Indiana-based NiSource Inc., is still utilizing a coal decrement pricing strategy it imple- mented in May 2016 in an effort to burn down bulging coal stock- piles. The strategy involves bidding coal units into the Midconti- nent Independent System Operator (MISO) market below cost so they will be more competitive and more likely to be dispatched by the Carmel, Indiana-based regional grid operator. MISO includes 15 states plus the Canadian province of Manitoba. % a w a r d s Bob Ochsner (right), chef engineer, and Barry Schreckengost, continuous miner coordinator, accept the 2017 Longwall USA Top Performers Award for Signal Peak Energy's Bull Mountains No. 1 mine. Brandon Parsons (right), longwall coor- dinator, and Parker Phipps, general man- ager, accept the 2017 Longwall USA Top Performers Award for Foresight Energy's Mach mine. Josh Duncan (right), longwall coordinator, and Rob Colaw, longwall maintenance coordinator, accept the 2017 Longwall USA Top Performers Awards for Alliance Resource Partners' Tunnel Ridge mine. Top US Underground Mines Recognized at Longwall USA Coal Age presented Top Performers Awards to three leading U.S. long- wall operators at the 2017 Longwall USA Conference & Exhibition, which took place during June in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The awards are based on three criteria: safety performance, overall production and productivity (raw tons per day). Consisting of a bronze medallion craft- ed by the late mining sculptor Gary Prazen and mounted on a walnut plaque, the Longwall USA Top Performers Awards are presented to the best mine in three categories: low (less than 72 inches), medium (73- 95 inches) and high (96 inches and greater). The performance criteria are based on the intervening years between Longwall USA conferences. In this case, it would be 2016 and 2015 data. The high-seam division winner for 2017 was Signal Peak Energy's Bull Mountains No. 1 mine. Located in Montana, the Bull Mountains mine produced more than 5.6 million clean tons and 6.4 million clean tons in 2016 and 2015, respectively. More importantly, however, the mine had a Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) incidence rate of 0.00 for both years. The winner in the medium-seam division was Foresight Energy's Mach No. 1 mine. This was the third consecutive Longwall USA Top Performer Award for Mach. Located in southern Illinois, the Mach mine had an average raw production of more than 46,000 tons per day (tpd) in 2016 and more than 48,000 tpd in 2015. It produced 11.4 million clean tons and 8.9 million clean tons in 2016 and 2015, respectively. The mine had an incidence rate of 1.14 in 2016 and 4.30 in 2015. Alliance Resource Partners' Tunnel Ridge mine won the low-seam division. The mine's average raw daily production amounted to nearly 48,000 tons in 2016 and more than 36,500 in 2015. Tunnel Ridge pro- duced 11.2 million clean tons in 2016 and 9.1 million clean tons in 2015. They had an MSHA incidence rate of 3.35 in 2016 and 0.72 in 2015.