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August 2016 www.coalage.com 25 u.s. coal report continued Major U.S. Coal Operators While the landscape among the top 20 U.S. coal producers has changed substantially during the past five years, there are a few noticeable constants. As a group, they represented 86.1% of total U.S. produc- tion. In 2010, they accounted for 83.5% of production. The top four coal operators remained the same and the order by pro- duction remained the same, although the amount of production dropped substan- tially. The leading coal producer, Peabody Energy, produced 15.7 million tons less in 2015 than it did in 2010; similarly, Arch Coal gave up 33.2 million tons; Cloud Peak Energy mined 20.2 million less tons; and Alpha Natural Resources' figures dropped by 10.2 million tons. What makes these figures even more remarkable is that Arch Coal purchased International Coal Group and Alpha merged with Massey Energy, which represented an additional 15.5 mil- lion tons and 36.7 million tons, respective- ly. Several other names disappeared from the U.S. coal scene as well: BHP Billiton, James River Coal, TECO Coal and Chevron Mining. The mergers, acquisitions and bank- ruptcy reorganizations have allowed oth- er coal producers to ascend and created room for others to appear on the top 20 list. Murray Energy Corp. acquired a number of longwall operations from CONSOL Energy. The two companies es- sentially traded places in the rankings. Westmoreland Coal acquired a few coal operations and climbed up the rankings. The new names that have appeared since 2010 include Foresight Energy, Bowie Resource Partners, Black Hawk Mining, Sunrise Coal, Armstrong Energy, Walter Energy and Signal Peak Energy. Foresight Energy constructed a number of Illinois Basin (ILB) longwall mines. Bowie Re- sources purchased several western long- wall operations. Black Hawk bought the James Rivers properties. Coronado has steadily built a portfolio of properties through acquisition. Among this top 20 group, there is also a core of three coal operators that con- sistently go about their business, despite the flurry of activity around them. To- gether, Alliance Resource Partners, North American Coal and Luminant Mining represent 95.5 million tpy of coal pro- duction, which is up from 90.5 million tons five years ago. While production at Table 2 — Top Coal Producers, 2015 vs. 2010 Top Coal Producers 2015 Tonnage Top Coal Producers 2010 Tonnage 1 Peabody Energy 177.9 Peabody Energy 193.6 2 Arch Coal 128.1 Arch Coal 161.3 3 Cloud Peak Energy 75.1 Cloud Peak Energy 95.3 4 Alpha Natural Resources 72.0 Alpha Natural Resources 82.2 5 Murray Energy Corp. 55.2 CONSOL Energy 62.4 6 Alliance Resource Partners 41.2 Massey Energy 36.7 7 North American Coal 30.5 North American Coal 34.1 8 Westmoreland Coal 30.3 Kiewit Mining Group 33.5 9 CONSOL Energy 29.3 Alliance Resource Partners 28.9 10 Luminant Mining 23.8 Patriot Coal 28.7 11 Foresight Energy 20.1 Luminant Mining 27.6 12 Kiewit Mining Group 18.2 Westmoreland Coal 25.1 13 Bowie Resource Partners 12.2 Murray Energy Corp 24.7 14 Patriot Coal 10.3 International Coal Group (ICG) 15.5 15 Black Hawk Mining 10.1 BHP Billiton 12.8 16 Sunrise Coal 8.8 Interwest Mining Co. 9.4 17 Armstrong Energy 8.2 James River Coal Co. 8.8 18 Coronado Coal 6.9 TECO Coal Corp. 8.7 19 Walter Energy 6.4 Chevron Mining 7.8 20 Signal Peak Energy 6.4 Oxford Resource Partners 7.5 2015 Total Top 20 771.0 2010 Total Top 20 904.6 Total U.S. Production 895.9 1,083.8 Source: Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Mining Association (NMA) Table 3 — Current Spot Prices for Coal ($/ton) Dec 11 Dec 12 Dec 13 Dec 14 Dec 15 Aug 16 Northern Appalachia $73.30 $63.00 $68.00 $65.30 $48.95 $42.35 Central Appalachia $76.30 $68.15 $63.58 $56.10 $43.50 $41.10 Illinois Basin $50.00 $47.90 $46.15 $44.70 $32.60 $32.00 Powder River Basin $12.50 $10.45 $11.50 $11.55 $10.90 $8.70 Western Bituminous $41.00 $35.75 $35.95 $37.75 $40.65 $39.40 Source: EIA/Platts Coal Outlook Weekly Price Survey Table 4 — Total Number of Mines and Miners, 2015 vs. 2010 2015 2010 Prod (M st) Mines Miners Diff (%) Prod (M st) Mines Miners Wyoming 375.8 16 6,432 (2.8) 442.5 19 6,620 West Virginia 98.9 152 13,889 (26.2) 140.6 257 18,819 Kentucky 61.4 212 8,430 (46.1) 104.8 398 15,648 Illinois 56.2 25 3,470 10.2 33.4 24 3,148 Pennsylvania 47.9 206 5,215 (17.4) 54.7 247 6,314 Texas 35.9 14 2,605 (2.8) 41.6 12 2,680 Montana 41.9 6 1,158 11.3 44.7 6 1,040 Indiana 34.3 24 2,901 1.2 35.7 33 2,868 North Dakota 28.8 4 1,249 13.9 28.9 4 1,097 New Mexico 19.7 3 901 (17.3) 21.0 4 1,089 Colorado 18.9 9 1,420 (28.7) 25.2 10 1,991 Ohio 17.0 25 2,050 (13.0) 27.5 43 2,356 Utah 14.4 9 1,045 (35.3) 19.3 8 1,616 Virginia 14.1 68 2,658 (37.4) 21.7 107 4,244 U.S. Total 897.0 854 57,992 (23.0) 1,086.1 1,287 75,327 Source: MSHA and the NMA