Coal news and updates

Tulsa-based coal producer buys up remaining interest in Illinois mining subsidiary

Alliance Resource Partners LP will pay $50 million to take 100 percent control of a coal-mining operation in Illinois, the Tulsa-based company reported Monday.

Alliance Resource Partners, also known by its stock symbol ARLP, is acquiring all the remaining equity interests in White Oak Resources LLC. Upon closing, ARLP subsidiary Alliance WOR Processing LLC will take over operations of the White Oak Mine No. 1.

“White Oak Mine No. 1 enhances our already strong presence in the Illinois Basin,” ARLP CEO Joseph Craft said in a statement. “The White Oak mine is a world-class, low-cost longwall operation with an extensive reserve base.”

The White Oak mine is a longwall operation producing high-sulfur coal out of a seam in Hamilton County, Illinois. Longwall mining is a mechanized form of mining in which shearers extract or slice panels of coal from the wall face.

The Illinois mine began operations in 2014. It produces at an annual rate of about 6 million tons of coal.

Alliance Resource Partners, which is headquartered in Tulsa, oversees mines in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland and West Virginia. The company gained record revenues and net income of $2.3 billion and $497.2 million, respectively, in 2014, according to reports.

Coal reserves held by Alliance total about 1.6 billion tons.

source: http://www.tulsaworld.com