The unit, a Joy 14CM10aa (from Komatsu Mining) like the first it already had in its fleet, is currently receiving installation of a proximity detection safety system. When that work is complete in about two weeks, it will place the CM into production in early April at the Pike County mine.
Carnegie 1 is the first in a collection of underground met mines American is bringing online or restarting, each within the footprint of the high-vol A/B Lower Alma seam. The CM at Carnegie 1 is the last piece of equipment needed to put its expansion into place and meet the increasing demand for its met coal product.
Carnegie 1 Mine
American Resources estimated that, with the walking super-section in action, it will be able to achieve initial production in the first phase of 14,000-20,000 U.S. tons (12,700-18,100 tonnes) per month from less than 7,000 US tons per month historically that had been produced prior over one production shift.
This first phase of development should be completed by the second week of April. It will continue to ramp up and further expand after that to eventually reach total output of 32,000-42,000 U.S. tons per month.
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"The Surprisingly Sustainable Case for Coal"
By Glenn Kellow, CEO, Peabody Energy
Amid a fuel that is so often miscast as a Hollywood villain, I’d like to briefly lay out what I would call the surprisingly sustainable case for coal… with three key observations.
First Observation: The story of global energy is not one of good versus evil.
Glenn Kellow
It is a tale of the pursuit of two “goods” – affordable, reliable energy and reduced emissions. Maximising the benefits while minimising the costs are what so many of us are about every single day.
First, the basics: The world uses some 8 billion tons of coal per year. A bit more than one out of every four units of energy in the world comes from coal – and the International Energy Agency (IEA) has noted that this share has actually edged up in the past four decades – and off a much larger base.
For the first time ever in 2018, global coal-fuelled generating capacity topped 2,000 gigawatts (GW). That’s a massive 62% increase since the year 2003… and each GW can use about 3 million tons of coal per year. Some 300 GW of new coal-fuelled generation is under construction in Asia alone – more than the entire existing U.S. coal fleet. More than 40 nations have added coal-fuelled generation since 2010.
Within the U.S., past years of regulatory burden, financial incentives to switch fuels, and a country specific shale play have created a secular decline, but coal still fuels over a quarter of electricity generation. During the peak day of the recent polar vortex, coal fuelled 37% of electricity – more than any other source.
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American Resources Corporation Delivers Second Continuous Miner to its Carnegie 1 Metallurgical Coal Mine
American Resources Corporation, a supplier of raw materials to the rapidly growing global infrastructure marketplace, with a primary focus on the extraction, processing, transportation and selling of metallurgical coal to the steel industry, announced that the second continuous miner is being picked up today with a goal of installing proximity detection safety technology over the next two weeks and commencing production in early April at the Carnegie 1 mine located in Pike County, Kentucky. The Carnegie 1 mine is the first in a series of underground metallurgical coal mines American Resources is bringing into production within a large contiguous boundary of High Vol A/B metallurgical coal in the Lower Alma coal seam.
As part of the Company's previously announced expansion plan of its Carnegie 1 mine, the Company expects to restart production with two Joy 14CM10aa continuous miners. American Resources recently acquired the second Joy 14CM10aa continuous miner, which will be brought to the Carnegie 1 mine site to finalize preparation for coal production. Previously, American Resources operated one continuous miner at Carnegie 1, but due to high demand for the metallurgical coal produced by this mine, the Company recently instituted and announced an expansion plan to increase the coal production at this mine. The acquisition of the second continuous miner is the last piece of equipment needed to achieve this expanded production.
The two continuous miners will initially be operated as a "walking" super section during two production shifts. The initial production range of this first phase of expanded production is expected to be 14,000 to 20,000 tons per month, an increase from less than 7,000 tons per month historically from this mine utilizing just one continuous miner during one production shift. The Company expects to complete this first phase of development by the second week of April. Upon completion, American Resources has previously detailed plans to even further expand the coal production at Carnegie 1 to eventually bring total output to approximately 32,000 to 42,000 tons per month. The coal produced from this mine is sold on current metallurgical contracts that range from $97.00 to $102.00 per ton "freight on board" railcar.
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A Solution in Search of a Problem
It’s not uncommon to hear calls for rebuilding and transforming the electricity grid. In fact, renewable energy boosters say transforming the grid is an imperative if the nation is to reach their goal of 100 percent wind and solar power. But this call for transformation exposes some of the underlying problems with the proposed wind and solar mandate.
Wind and solar don’t easily fit within the electricity grid that we have – in fact, they add considerable stress to it. As more and more wind and solar generation are added to the grid, operators must accommodate huge spikes in power when they’re not needed and a complete loss of generation when it’s needed most. These are the hourly and day-to-day challenges of integrating intermittent sources of energy. The even larger challenge is accommodating dramatic seasonal changes in wind and solar output that can last for weeks or months.
As renewable energy advocates see it, the answer to smooth out these peaks and valleys is to largely scrap the grid we have and build a huge new transmission network that can move power from one tip of the country to the other. The basic idea is that as the grid gets bigger and more integrated, bad weather in one region of the country can be offset with good weather for generating power in another.
Building this uber grid might make sense to some on paper but there are a number of very good reasons why it hasn’t happened and why it would be so hard to do. Right at the top of the list is the inarguable fact that the existing grid works.
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Atlantic Coking Coal: U.S. Firm Despite Bearish Signals
U.S. coking coal prices edged slightly up in the past week and sellers are confident of high-volatile prices remaining robust despite growing expectations of a price drop in the Asia-Pacific market.
The Argus weekly fob Hampton Roads assessment for low-volatile coking coal rose by $1/t from the prior week to $190/t today. The weekly assessments for high-volatile type A (HVA) and high-volatile type B (HVB) coking coal are both unchanged, at $205.50/t and $168/t fob, respectively.
More bearish signals have been creeping into the ferrous market, with some Asia-Pacific traders sharply lowering coking coal offer levels today in an attempt to clear positions, while cautious sentiment is dampening steel prices in both Asia and the Atlantic. The Argus weekly domestic U.S. hot rolled coil (HRC) assessment fell by $12/st to $698/t ex-works Midwest – the first time this index has fallen in a month.
But sentiment in the U.S. coking coal market is still fairly robust, with underlying demand and well-filled order books meaning sellers are unlikely to adjust offers downward unless the fob Australia market undergoes a sustained drop. "More U.S. term contracts are now connected to spot indexes, so there is always that level of exposure. But most of the actual tonnes are already locked in for the near-term, for high-vols, and the fundamentals supporting that are looking pretty firm," a U.S. market participant said.
Another market participant noted that the limited amount of spot trade within the European market also contributes to Atlantic prices being less reactive to fob Australia volatility.
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