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May 2016 2 www.coalage.com editor's note Resiliency in US Coal Markets T his edition covers coal preparation, but another over-rid- ing theme is the positive developments in metallurgical or coking coal markets. The cover story this month is Rama- co Resources' new Elk Creek prep plant. The company, which recently commissioned America's newest prep plant, mines, washes and sells metallurgical grade coal. The lead story in the news section talks about the turnaround that Warrior Met Coal is experiencing in Alabama. These miners managed to survive and reorganize during tough times and now they are reaping the rewards. Coal Age dedicated a significant amount of editorial space this month to promote the Coal Preparation Society of America's Coal Processing Technology conference (CoalPro- Tec 2018), which will be held April 23-26 in Lexington, Kentucky. This core group supported the annual Coal Prep event for many years. When it fell into disarray af- ter some unwise decisions by its management, these coal processing profession- als stuck to their guns, brought the technical program back to Lexington and re- launched it as CoalProTec. They will succeed because they are more interested in providing a service than cashing in and out on market swings. Several speakers in the CoalProTec technical program will discuss different aspects of met markets. If one were to generalize, met coal markets could be summed up as several coking coal mines in Australia exporting coal to Chinese steel mills. The reality, however, is that the steel industry is much more complex, and so too are met ex- port markets. As we have always known and much of the rest of world recently learned after President Donald Trump announced aluminum and steel tariffs, steel is also manufactured in Europe, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Canada and a host of other countries. Unfortunately, the steel mills in the U.S. no longer com- mand a significant share of that market. While many companies were understandably crying foul after Trump talked tar- iffs, few noticed that U.S. Steel Corp. announced it would restart one of two blast furnaces at its integrated steelmaking plant in Granite City, Illinois. The company be- lieves the additional capacity will support anticipated increased demand for steel in the United States from the tariffs. "Our Granite City Works facility and employees, as well as the surrounding community, have suffered too long from the unending waves of unfairly traded steel products that have flooded U.S. markets," said U.S. Steel Pres- ident and CEO David B. Burritt. "The president's strong leadership is needed to begin to level the playing field so companies like ours can compete, win and create jobs." The Granite City Works were idled in December 2015 and now the company an- ticipates calling back approximately 500 employees. It also buys its iron ore from miners in Minnesota and its met coal from U.S. coal miners. Other American steel mills are making similar moves, too. Another factor that could influence this market is a growing economy and extra demand for rebuilding the country's infrastructure. And, this could have a knock-on effect for power generation markets. While the re- siliency of the U.S. coal comeback is being tested, the metallurgical coal markets are clearly a supporting factor. www.coalage.com Coal Age, Volume 123, Issue 2, (ISSN 1040-7820) is published monthly ex- cept January, June and November, by Mining Media International Inc., 11655 Central Parkway, Suite 306, Jacksonville, Florida 32224 (mining-media. com). Periodicals postage paid at Jacksonville, FL, and additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 41450540. Canada return address: PO Box 2600, Mississauga ON L4T 0A8, Email: subscrip- tions@coalage.com. 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