SteelNews.com Article
Patriot Sells Metallurgical Coal to Asian Destinations
Mar. 16, 2010 Patriot Coal Corp. has reached an agreement to sell approximately 1.5 million tons of metallurgical coal to steel mills in the Pacific Rim, with delivery beginning in April 2010 through early 2011. The sale was arranged through a third party, Xcoal, which has an extensive presence in Asian markets.
"This transaction opens up new markets for our products, and also provides Patriot considerable upside in selling additional Panther coal in global metallurgical coal markets," commented Patriot CEO Richard M. Whiting.
"With this sale, we now expect our 2010 met coal shipments will be more than 7.0 million tons, with nearly 2.0 million of this volume coming from the Panther mine,” added Whiting. “This represents more than a 30% increase in total met shipments over 2009 levels. Further, we expect to see additional opportunities for met coal sales to Asia as 2010 unfolds."
The company said that coal for the new agreement would be sourced primarily from its Panther and Winchester mines.
Patriot Coal Corp. is a leading producer and marketer of coal in the eastern United States, with 14 current mining complexes in Appalachia and the Illinois Basin. The company ships to domestic and international electric utilities, industrial users and metallurgical coal customers, and controls approximately 1.8 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves.