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6 www.coalage.com Janaury/February 2018 news continued from other operations. Teck expects lost production in the range of 200,000 metric tons of clean coal. Costs of repair to the dryer are not expected to exceed $5 million to $10 million. Wesfarmers Will Sell Curragh Mine Wesfarmers announced it has agreed to sell one of the world's largest metallurgical coal mines, its 8.5-million-metric-ton-pro- ducing Curragh mine in Queensland, to Coronado Coal Group for $700 million under an agreement that also includes a value share mechanism linked to future metallurgical coal prices. Once the transaction is complete, Wesfarmers estimates it would report a post-tax profit on sale of approximately $100 million. Reflecting recent volatility in spot coal prices, Wesfarmers will also receive 25% of Curragh's export coal revenue generated above a realized metallurgical coal price of US$145 per metric ton (mt), paid quarterly over the next two years. Curragh also produces 3.5 million metric tons per year (mtpy) of steaming coal, which is sold to the Queensland government's Stanwell Corp. It was acquired by Wesfarmers for approximately $200 million in 2000, when it was producing 4.5 million mt of met- allurgical and thermal coal. Anglo Sells New Largo Coal Operation in South Africa Anglo American announced the sale, by its 73% held subsidiary Anglo American Inyosi Coal Pty. Ltd., of the New Largo thermal coal project and Old New Largo closed colliery to New Largo Coal Pty. Ltd. for ZAR850 million ($71 million). New Largo is owned by Seriti Resources Pty. Ltd. and Coalzar Pty. Ltd., which are majority owned and controlled by historically disadvantaged South Africans (HD- SAs) and the Industrial Development Corp. SOC Ltd. (IDC). Located in South Africa, New Largo's principal asset is the 585-million-metric-ton coal resource, with the related mining right, that is well-positioned to supply Eskom's new Kusile power station. The transaction is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals in South Africa, and it is expected to close in the second half of 2018. Richards Bay Breaks Coal Records The fifth-largest coal exporter in the world, Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) enjoyed a record-breaking year in 2017 amid a major upgrade project and despite losing 38 days of operations to adverse weather conditions. In August, RBCT broke its import tonnage record, with a total for the month of 7.5 million metric tons (mt) offloaded from trains. In December, the company broke its export tonnage record for the year with a total of 76.5 million mt. The tonnage exported by RBCT in 2017 was up 5.1% over 2016. In total, RBCT offloaded 75.59 million mt of coal and loaded 76.47 million mt. A total of 907 ves- sels were loaded last year, but the capesize vessels increased from 232 in 2016 to 279 last year. Almost 82% of RBCT's coal is exported to Asia, with India the highest importer on the Asian continent at 35.76 million mt. Only 10% is exported to Europe and 7.8% to the rest of Africa. Canadian Coal Terminal Project Gets the Greenlight A $15 million thermal coal terminal at Fraser Surrey Docks that was approved by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority in 2014 has been given the greenlight by the Federal Court of Canada, ac- cording to BIV. The court dismissed an appeal by two community Continued from p. 5... of restarting an energy-intensive aluminum smelter at Warrick that was idled almost two years ago because of market conditions. The planned Liberty expansion would add an additional 3,500 acres to the mine. It was unclear if the mine's overall out- put would be affected. Liberty produced nearly 1.1 million tons of coal during the first nine months of 2017. Elsewhere in southwestern Indiana, Donnie Blankenberg- er, president of Blankenberger Brothers, said the company's BB Mining subsidiary still is advancing plans for a new underground mine in Pike County, Indiana. While no specific timetable has been released for the start of construction and production, he said development progress is expected to be made this year. Across the Ohio River in western Kentucky, Australia's Paringa was hard at work building Poplar Grove. The mine is scheduled to start production this summer to begin supplying a total of 4.5 million tons of coal over the next several years to Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities. Poplar Grove is targeted to produce about 2.8 million tpy. The company hopes to start construction in 2019 on a sister underground mine, the fully permitted Cypress continuous miner operation, in early 2019. It is expected to produce about 3.8 million tpy. Blackhawk Set to Grow Met Coal Business in 2018 Metallurgical coal will continue to represent an increasingly im- portant part of Blackhawk Mining LLC's production portfolio in 2018, with the Lexington, Kentucky-based company expecting to mine and sell nearly 9 million tons of met coal out of its total pro- jected output of 14.5 million tons. The strategic decision to grow its met coal business was be- hind Blackhawk's late 2017 restructuring of long-term debt, free- ing up nearly $100 million of incremental liquidity the company can use to strengthen its balance sheet. Blackhawk CEO Mitch Potter said in late December his com- pany was "pleased to have support from our investors to com- plete this transaction. This deal positions Blackhawk to take advantage of strong metallurgical coal markets and achieve our organic growth potential through continued investment in our portfolio of tier-1 high vol metallurgical assets." Since 2016, Blackhawk has developed five new mines that are expected to produce approximately 2 million tons of premium high-vol met coal in 2018. While the expansion was slower than anticipated in 2017 due to basin-wide operational headwinds that since have calmed, Blackhawk said it is prudent to reinvest cash in 2018 into its oper- ating assets instead of continuing with its current debt amortiza- tion schedule. Blackhawk added that the liquidity benefit from the debt re- structuring "will position the company to maximize the value of its industry-leading metallurgical coal portfolio." Blackhawk said it also is taking action to improve corporate governance by adding additional independent members to its board of managers. A stronger, more diversified board will help guide the company to its long-term strategic goals, including ma- terial debt reduction, Blackhawk said. The company said it received overwhelming support for the re- structuring, including participation from more than 97% of first-lien Continued on p. 7...