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Issue link: https://coal.epubxp.com/i/110818
news continued Continued from pg 7... ArcelorMittal to Close Liege Coke Plant Citing a struggling European economy and slowing demand for its products, ArcelorMittal Liege has decided to permanently close several assets in Belgium. Structural overcapacity in Northern Europe means ArcelorMittal Liege���s future focus, company officials said, will target downstream activities, operating five core lines and seven flexible lines. Given an excess European coking coal supply, the coke plant will also be closed. Five strategic core lines for 800 workers will continue operating, though with company representatives noting their technical specialization. Flooding Affects Coal Operations in South Africa���s Limpopo Province Following a recent record 500 mm of rainfall, Coal of Africa Ltd. (CoAL) has been forced to shutter its Vele Colliery in South Africa���s Limpopo Province. Over a normal year, the site sees 450 mm of rain. Vele currently has a stockpile of 5,500 metric tons (mt) of thermal coal, while producing 7,000 saleable mt weekly. CoAL expects normal operations to resume, subject to receding rainfall. Limpopo province borders Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Indonesia���s Bakrie Family to Quit Bumi Indonesia coal producer Bumi plc said the influential Bakrie family, which has been locked in a battle with London financier Nat Rothschild over control since the company���s 2010 founding, will exit based on a $578 million proposal. ���The negotiations have gone well, I���m confident they will come up with the funding,��� Bumi CEO Nick von Schirnding told reporters; Bumi was valued at $3 billion when the deal was signed in 2010; it���s now worth $1.3 billion. The company would sell its 29% stake in Indonesia���s largest coal miner, PT Bumi Resources Tbk, to the Bakries in exchange for leaving its 24% stake in Bumi and $278 million. Under the cash proposal, Bumi would retain 85% ownership of Indonesia���s fifth-largest coal miner, PT Berau Coal Energy. Ontario Getting Out of Coal-fired Generation Ontario, Canada���s most populous province, will shut down the last of its coal plants in southern Ontario by the end of 2013, a year ahead of schedule. The early closure of Ontario���s two largest coalfired electricity plants, Nanticoke and Lambton, comes as a result of the province���s improved, smarter electricity grid, increased efficiency, strong conservation efforts and diversified supply of clean energy. Since 2003, Ontario has cut its use of coal by nearly 90%. Ontario currently uses less coal-fired generation in its energy mix than any G8 nation. In 2014, Ontario���s use of coal is expected to be less than 1% of total electricity generation, down from 25% in 2003. The province will have closed 17 of 19 coal units by the end of 2013. By the end of 2014, Ontario will be one of the first places in the world to eliminate coal as a source of electricity production. �� amortization due to the startup of the new Tunnel Ridge longwall mine in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the addition of the Onton underground mine in western Kentucky and capital expenditures related to infrastructure improvements at various other operations. The company���s average coal sales price realized during 2012 also increased to a record $56.28/sold ton, despite reduced coal sales volumes shipped into the metallurgical export markets. Joseph Craft III, Alliance president and CEO, touted his company���s performance during a January 29 conference call with coal analysts to discuss fourth-quarter and full-year earnings. Alliance, he said, ���has delivered record results each year since becoming a public company in 1999. That is truly remarkable considering the challenges that faced the industry in 2012.��� Indeed, those challenges were many. They included record low natural gas prices in early 2012, the mild winter of 2011-12 that left many electric utilities with bulging stockpiles of coal, and more rulemaking targeting coal by President Obama���s Environmental Protection Agency. Still, Alliance prospered. The record revenue was driven mainly by record coal sales volumes and price realizations. Among other factors, Alliance benefitted from the startup of Tunnel Ridge, the acquisition of Onton last April and higher production at its River View underground mine in Union County, Ky. The fourth quarter wasn���t too shabby either. Revenues rose 15.8% to $549.4 million in the three-month period ending December 31. Net income also was higher, $96.6 million, a 5.4% gain over the same period in 2011. Craft expects the good times to continue for Alliance in 2013, even if he conceded a possible rocky start. ���We expect the coal market for the first half of 2013 to be challenging,��� he said. ���But we are hopeful of seeing improvement in the back half of the year��� largely because of forecast strength in export markets and higher gas prices. Alliance ���enters 2013 poised to deliver our 13 th year of record results,��� he added. According to Brian Cantrell, Alliance senior vice president and CFO, the company���s coal production and sales are forecast to range from 38.1 million to 39.1 million tons this year. That should reflect a full year of production from Onton and the continued ramp-up of Tunnel Ridge, which eventually is expected to produce more than 6 million tons annually. Alliance also has two major coal mine projects in the hopper, at least one of which is expected to commence initial production before year���s end. The White Oak No. 1 longwall mine in Hamilton County, Ill., should see limited production get under way late this year, then ramp up around mid-2014 when the longwall begins operating. Alliance is a major investor in the project developed by privatelyowned White Oak Resources. The mine could reach 7 million tons a year at peak output. Meanwhile, development is on schedule at the new Gibson South underground mine in Gibson County, Ind. The continuous miner operation should start producing coal in the fourth quarter of 2014, ramping up to 3.5 million tons a year or so into 2015. ���We anticipate the first tons that come out of Gibson South more than likely will be going into the export market,��� Craft said. Illinois Coal Production Continues to Grow Illinois is the hottest coal-producing state in a resurgent high-sulfur Illinois Basin. A jump in export steam coal sales helped propel Illinois 8 www.coalage.com February 2013