The property lease is effective February 8, 2011, and provides for an initial five-year lease, with the option for the company to extend the lease for five additional periods of five years. The facility is capable of supporting a throughput of up to 2 million tons per year (tpy) and additional storage area is available to the company at the port to accommodate future mine production schedules.
The port of Corpus Christi is strategically placed for the export of coal worldwide, including Europe and Brazil on the Atlantic side, and Asia through the Panama Canal. The Port can accommodate seagoing vessels capable of carrying up to 70,000 tons of coal. The port delivers access to overland transportation with on-site and direct connections to three Class I railroads and uncongested interstate and state highways.
The New Elk coal mine has recently commenced mine production of high-vol metallurgical coal with production slated to reach a rate of 3 million tons per year by the end of 2011 (See Coal Age, August 2010). Overall production in 2011 is anticipated to reach approximately 1 million tons of coal and will ramp up exponentially throughout the year, with 80% of the annual production scheduled to take place in the last six months of the year.
The New Elk coal mine has a mineral resource estimate of 315 million tons of coal in-place (87.6 million tons measured and 227.4 million tons indicated).
