Longwalls Lead the Way Underground
US coal operators turn to technology to improve productivity by steve fiscor, editor-in-chief...
Declining Coal Prices Accentuate a Dismal Year for Coal
If the current situation does not change, 2020 may be worse by steve fiscor, editor-in-chief...
Drilling in the Digital Age
Coal Age reviews some of the newest products and solutions in the blasthole drill rig market by...
Downturn Forces Scoop Suppliers to Innovate
The latest releases have been a long time coming but speak to pressing, timely needs by jesse...
Selection Tips for Vibrating Screens
When it comes to coal processing, it’s not one size fits all for screens by steve fiscor,...
The New Lingo of Fines Recovery
With the solutions now available, terms like waste could be losing their meaning by jesse morton,...
Matrix Introduces M5 Machine-mounted Methane Monitor
Matrix Design Group’s M5 Machine-mounted Methane Monitor has received U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) approval and is now available in the U.S. M5 is the next-generation system from Monitech Mine Monitoring...
EPA Proposes Additional Amendments to Coal Ash Regulations
On Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced further proposed revisions to the regulations for the management of coal combustion residuals (CCR), or coal ash, from electric utilities. “This proposal is...
Turquoise Hill Commits to New Coal-fired Power Plant for Oyu Tolgoi
Oyu Tolgoi LLC has submitted a feasibility study to the government of Mongolia for the Tavan Tolgoi Power Plant (TTPP) Project, which involves building a 300-megawatt coal power plant. The plan will allow the company to secure...
IPL Issues All-source RFP to Meet Future Electric Needs
Indianapolis Power & Light Co. (IPL) announced that Sargent & Lundy will act on IPL’s behalf to facilitate an all-source request for proposals (RFP) to meet future electric needs. The RFP was issued on December 20, and...
Duke Reaches Agreement on Ash Basins in North Carolina
In North Carolina, state regulators, community groups and Duke Energy have agreed to a plan to permanently close the company’s remaining nine coal ash basins in the state, primarily by excavation with ash moved to lined...
B&W Renew Maintenance Contract for San Juan Plant
Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Babcock & Wilcox Construction Co. LLC (B&W), has received a contract renewal valued at more than $4 million to provide maintenance services for Public...
CIL Will Raise Fuel Stock at Power Plants to 22 Days
Coal India is hoping to increase fuel stocks at power plants to 22 days, which requires 36 million metric tons (mt) to be stored at generating stations, a company executive said. The company has managed to raise average daily...
Vinacomin Will Sell 49 Million MT of Coal in 2020
The Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Holding Corp. Ltd. (Vinacomin) has set to sell 49 million metric tons (mt) of coal in 2020, a year-on-year surge of 10%, according to Vinacomin Deputy Director General Nguyen Hoang...
Jennmar Launches XCAL
JENNMAR announced that it plans to rebrand TungsteMet as XCAL Industries (www.xcalindustries.com), which manufactures tungsten carbide blanks. The company also announced it would form XCAL Tools (www.xcaltools.com) to...
Paul’s Fan Expands
Paul’s Fan Co. is growing and it is relocating to the Southern Gap Industrial Park shell building now under construction in Buchanan County, Virginia. It and the 40 new full-time jobs it is projected to create were celebrated...
Philippi-Hagenbuch Honored as Illinois’ 2019 Manufacturer of the Year
Philippi-Hagenbuch Inc., a global leader in off-highway truck customization, was awarded the 2019 Barry L. MacLean Manufacturer of the Year award by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association (IMA). The third-generation,...
The Fat Truck
Premier Truck Rental will be among the first firms to bring to the United States the Fat Truck, designed and assembled in Canada. It can move up to eight people or 1 metric ton (mt) of payload across terrain that in the past...
Application-specific Seals for Conveyor Idlers
Superior Industries said it will introduce a group of application-specific idlers seals at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2020. They’re one of a dozen new products the company will introduce. “These next-generation SpinGuard Idler Seals will...
Suspended Permanent Magnets
The CP-20 Series of Suspended Magnets from Eriez use a single-pole permanent magnet circuit to provide a uniform field across the feed belt to optimize separation efficiency of damaging tramp iron. These reliable, low-cost...
2020: An Inflection Point
Welcome to the combined January-February 2020 edition of Coal Age. This is a popular edition because it carries the Annual Forecast and the U.S. Longwall Census. It also provides the year-end production statistics in addition to...
Renewables Are Getting Pushed from the Nest
Several snippets of good news arrived as we were wrapping up the final edition of Coal Age for 2019. The International Energy Agency (IEA) released Coal 2019. In it, the agency seemed reluctant to report that a rebound in global...
Frustrated with Diesel Particulate Filters?
by steve fiscor, editor-in-chief With all the advances in emission controls, diesel particulate filters (DPFs) can be found almost anywhere a new diesel engine is operating today. The systems work well for trapping soot, but...
Improved Access Reduces Conveyor Maintenance Time
Virtually every vehicle on the road today is designed with a hood that can be easily opened for access to the engine, so mechanics can perform routine service and diagnose/address problems that arise during its lifespan....
Best Practices for Annual Hearing Tests by amanda azman and joseph schall
Listen well to this cautionary tale about the surprising results from Bill’s annual hearing test. Bill has worked at the Yourtown mine in various positions for 17 years. Because of his tasks, for the past 15 years, he has been...
Teck Increases Export Capacity with New Ridley Terminals Agreement
Teck Resources Ltd. has expanded its commercial agreement with Ridley Terminals for shipping coal from Teck’s British Columbia operations. The agreement runs from January 2021 to December 2027, and increases contracted capacity...
States Ask Supreme Court to Hear Challenge of Washington’s Coal Terminal Permit Denial
Montana and Wyoming have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to accept their challenge of what they considered Washington’s “unconstitutional and discriminatory” denial of a permit for a proposed export terminal in Longview, according...
American Resources Sells Perry County Assets
American Resources Corp. has reached an agreement to sell certain non-core assets at its Perry County Resources subsidiary. The sale agreement consists of three idled permits associated with one underground mine and one surface...
DOE Will Award $6.3M for University Training, Research for Fossil Energy Applications
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE) announced approximately $6.3 million in federal funding for research and development projects under the funding opportunity announcement (FOA), University Training and...
West Virginia Governor, Ramaco Carbon Plan New Research Facility to Advance Coal-to-carbon Products
In his State of the State Address, Gov. Jim Justice announced an agreement with Wyoming-based carbon technology company Ramaco Carbon to open a new research facility in West Virginia to pursue research related to the use of coal...
CONSOL Energy Invests in CFOAM
CONSOL Energy recently acquired a 25% stake in CFOAM Corp. for $3.5 million. The company also provided a $1.1 million term loan to CFOAM LLC for working capital and invested another $400,000 to acquire a first lien note,...
VCEA 2019 Excellence in Mining Awards Presented
A total of 11 awards of excellence were presented to Southwest Virginia coal companies during the Virginia Coal and Energy Alliance’s 48th annual Fall Meeting and “Excellence In Mining Awards,” recently at the Russell County...
Contura Subsidiary Receives National Reclamation Award
Contura Energy announced that one of its affiliate operations, Paramont Contura LLC’s 88 Strip surface mine, earned the 2019 Outstanding Reclamation Award in the coal category given by the National Association of State Land...
For Global Energy Leadership, Think Coal FIRST
by conor bernstein What does the coal plant of the future look like? For too many people, the answer is that we don’t need new coal technology nor a new generation of plants. That line of thinking is a huge mistake. Too many...
Campaigning on a Platform of Job Losses and Power Outages
Presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg recently announced that if elected he will phase out coal power in the U.S. by 2030. He made this proclamation standing in the pouring rain in front of a retired coal power plant, telling...
Alliance Resource Partners
Alliance Resource Partners announced that Kirk Tholen has joined the executive team as senior vice president and chief strategic officer. He will also serve as president of ARLP’s oil and gas minerals segment. Most recently,...
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers announced that Ann Fandozzi will become CEO and join the board of directors. Most recently, Fandozzi was CEO of ABRA Auto Body and Glass. img: Ann Fandozzi
2020 Hindsight
Looking back at 2019, I can see that we achieved yet another record low of 24 fatalities for the year. We have no matching work hour data to determine actual rates, rather than raw numbers, but even so, any reduction in...
Revisions to Coal-fired Power Regulations Remain Unresolved
As 2019 winds down, a number of environmental regulations impacting the coal industry are in flux under the mounting pressure of various lawsuits and proposed rewrites by the President Donald Trump administration. While...
