Coal Age: 2000- Present Safety Becomes a Priority – 2000-2012
The U.S. coal industry is remarkable. Having demonstrated the resilience required to survive the turbulent 1990s, it continues to adapt and reposition itself to meet the challenges it will face in the next 10 to 20 years. For most coal operators, survival has meant chasing the market with more tons at lower prices. The only way they can free themselves from survival mode is by balancing supply with demand, adopting some form of price discipline, improving productivity, and controlling costs. Advancements in technology offer the best solution.
In a lot of ways, the U.S. coal industry has come full circle in the new millennia. Despite dramatic improvements in safety, several tragic mine disasters during the decade have tarnished the industry’s image and led to costly oversight and regulation. In some cases, those regulations have improved safety and operating conditions. Similarly, several mishaps have allowed large discharges into the inland waterways. These events allow the public to form negative images of the modern coal industry that are not representative of the collective group.
The message that goes untold is how 98% of the coal companies are doing the right thing. Daily they live up to higher safety and environmental standards while providing the U.S. with a low-cost form of electrical power.
In the early part of the decade, short-term contracts prevent mines from investing in capital projects, which eventually impacts production. Costly compliance measures and low prices force more coal operators out of the marketplace. Mountaintop mining falls under increasing scrutiny putting 50 million tons of central Appalachian coal in jeopardy.
By 2007-2008, the tables turn and U.S. coal producers are almost giddy. They have never experienced such profits especially for metallurgical coals. Australia’s mines in Queensland were flooded. The South Africans were rationing power. Asian demand for coal was peaking. The suddenness of the 2008 bust maybe remembered most because it happened when met coal was selling for more than $300/ton. Prices have never climbed and contracted that quickly.
Even though 2010 was a difficult year for the coal business, coal companies were looking forward to 2011 and 2012 more optimistically. The U.S. had regulated itself out of business in several regions and prices were beginning to improve. As the next decade begins though, energy markets find themselves awash is inexpensive natural gas.
Domestic Market Remains Cyclic
In 2000, demand for coal slows and the railroads and river docks get a chance to catch up. The tech bubble has burst and the U.S. economy is slowing. Both the summer of 1999 and 1999-2000 winter were mild. Coal prices are at a modern-day, all-time low.
Natural gas prices recover first to $6 per million Btu. High gas prices were prevent fuel switching (coal is roughly equivalent to $2 per million Btu). Coal inventories begin to decline as coal operators struggle to keep pace with demand. Those with uncommitted coal are taking advantage of high spot prices. Spot prices for Powder River Basin (PRB) coal moves above double digits to $12/ton for the first time in April 2001. California is hit by a series of rolling blackouts and energy is the lead story on the evening news.
Electric utilities begin building capacity for future demand. More than 65,000 mw of new coal-fired capacity is announced. It’s estimated that more capacity was added during those few years than all of the 1990s. Almost all of that capacity, however, came in the form of gas-fired power. At the time, the coal industry warns the utilities not to place all of their eggs in one basket, but those stranded investments will pay dividends in the next decade.
Based on the rally, coal production breaks the 1.1-billion-ton milestone in 2001. By the end of the year, however, most of the price increases had been lost. Coal supply and demand returns to a balanced state by 2004.
Some of the major mines in the East have encountered operational problems. Permitting headaches nag operators in Appalachia. Stockpiles at mines and utilities are below normal levels. Competing power sources, such as hydroelectric and nuclear, are stretched thin and coal prices move upward again. The good news now is that the industry is starting to see some favorable changes in regulations that may improve the permitting process.
During 2008, the U.S. coal industry posts some incredible numbers. Total production reaches 1.17 billion tons, while fatalities drop to a three-year low of 29. The celebration would be short-lived as the global financial crisis sets in. The U.S. economy enters a recession and demand for electricity drops. This recession, however, was anticipated and major producers are able to moderate production to a certain degree.
More Mines Change Hands as the Industry Goes Public
At the beginning of decade, Fluor announces a Massey spin off, resulting in two companies: Fluor Corp. and Massey Energy. Massey Energy becomes the largest publicly held, pure Appalachian coal play.
Westmoreland buys Montana Power’s coal business for $138 million. The acquisition includes Western Energy, which owns and operates the Rosebud mine in the northern PRB, and Northwestern Resources, which owns and operates the Jewett mine in Texas.
Alpha Natural Resources was formed in 2002 by First Reserve Corp., a private equity firm, to acquire the majority of the Virginia coal operations of Pittston Coal Co., a subsidiary of Brinks. During 2003, Alpha acquired Coastal Coal Co., and on March 11, 2003, it acquired the U.S. coal production and marketing operations of American Metals and Coal International (AMCI).
In February 2005, the company goes public. The company consists of eight regional business units supported by 44 underground mines, 20 surface mines and 11 prep plants, located mostly in Appalachia.
Peabody Energy purchases the Twentymile mine from RAG, which sets the stage for a major sale in February 2004. The company signed a $975 million sales agreement with a private equity consortium that consists of First Reserve, the Blackstone Group and AMCI. The consortium would eventually form Foundation Coal Corp. and take the company public. The company, which would become the fourth largest coal producer, operates 12 mines, produces 65 million tons of coal, and employs 2,700 people.
Horizon Natural Resources files for bankruptcy twice in 2002. Six months after it exited bankruptcy under its former name, AEI Resources, Horizon Natural Resources filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. New York billionaire Wilbur Ross teamed with Massey Energy to submit the winning bid of $786 million in mid-August 2004 for the bankrupt Horizon Natural Resources. Massey paid $10 million to acquire the Starfire and Cannelton mines and Ross put up the rest of the funds. Ross had already acquired Anker Coal Group and other coal assets. He put all of the coal assets under a new company, International Coal Group (ICG). In November 2005, they take ICG public.
Arch Coal acquires Triton Coal for $364 million during August 2004. Triton owns and operates the North Rochelle and Buckskin mines. Arch Coal will integrate North Rochelle into Black Thunder and sells Buckskin to Kiewit Mining for $72.9 million. North Rochelle has an estimated reserve base of 226 million tons.
In its September 2005 edition, Coal Age offers a special report on the resurgence of the Illinois Basin. The report covers new investments taking place in the region and also provides in-depth coverage of Alliance Resource Partners. The company, which was formed as a master limited partnership when Mapco exited the coal business during the mid-1990s, had grown organically to become one of the most successful coal companies in the nation.
In October 2007, Peabody Energy approved a spin-off of coal assets and operations in West Virginia and Kentucky. The spin-off was accomplished through a special dividend of all outstanding shares of Patriot Coal Corp. With 2006 sales of 24 million tons and reserves totaling 1.2 billion tons, Patriot becomes a leading steam and met coal producer. Peabody has essentially bundled all of its union mines, mostly in Appalachia, and formed a new coal company.
During August 2008, Rio Tinto announced an IPO for its subsidiary Rio Tinto Energy America (formerly known as Kennecott Energy). The new company would be known as Cloud Peak Energy and it would become the first publicly-held, pure-play PRB coal operator.
In March 2009, Arch Coal announces plans to purchase Rio Tinto’s Jacobs Ranch mine for $761 million. In 2008, it produced 42.1 million tons and the transaction includes 381 million tons of low-cost reserves that are contiguous to Arch’s Black Thunder mine.
Alpha Natural Resources made a $2 billion all-stock offer for Foundation Coal during May 2009 and merges its operations to create the third largest coal producer in the U.S. The company will now have 60 mines and 14 prep plants operating in all three major coal basins. Alpha becomes the leading eastern U.S. producer and the largest U.S. producer of met coals.
During January 2011, Alpha offers to acquire the beleaguered Massey Energy for $8.5 billion. Massey Energy’s image of a leading Appalachian coal producers has been irreparably damaged by an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine. In addition to a safety record that is in shambles, the company has on several occasions squared off with environmental activists. In many of those cases, it may have won the debate, but ultimately their public image suffers outside of Appalachia. Alpha acquires the company, makes amends with UBB survivors and regulators, and embarks on a retraining program to rebuild some great mines.
In May 2011, Arch Coal acquires ICG in a transaction valued at $3.4 billion. The acquisition of ICG is a significant strategic step for Arch Coal. Most of all, it broadens Arch Coal’s portfolio to now include met coals. In total, the company would have combined shipments of 151.7 million tons and the industry’s second largest reserve position with 5.5 billion tons.
Met Markets Surge
A growing Chinese steel industry is creating a dramatic increase in demand for met coal and iron ore. Predictions are calling for global steel output to rise by 7.4% to a record 840 million metric tons (mt), unchartered water statistically. The seaborne metallurgical market is dominated by Australia, which supplied 92 million mt in 1999 out of a total of 174 million mt. By 2005, Australia met exports are expected to reach 118 million mtpy.
Chinese coal imports in the first quarter of 2007 exceeded exports for the first time. China becomes a net coal consumer. Fueled by a need to power a robust economy, the world’s largest coal producer is expected to import more and more coal to satisfy its needs.
An active typhoon season during early 2008 takes many met coal mines offline in Queensland, Australia. Meanwhile, in the northern hemisphere, China is experiencing power and coal shortages as fierce winter storms hamper train traffic. Prices for met coal surge—$250/mt have become acceptable and the prices sometimes spike to as much as $305/mt. CONSOL Energy begins to talk about the Pittsburgh No. 8 seam’s crossover capabilities, meaning that it would soon start exporting steam coal to China for met purposes.
After record sales and production in 2008, international met markets plummet in 2009, but Asian demand starts to tick upward again in 2010 and 2011. U.S. coal operators suffering from a weak domestic market begin to search for more ways to market coals abroad. Port capacity is maxed along the East Coast. Some operators begin using mid-stream loading in the lower Mississippi to load ships. Others use the St. Lawrence Seaway to export coal and transload coal onto ships waiting off the coast of Nova Scotia. In the meantime, some of the largest U.S. producers are looking to develop more ports along the Gulf and Pacific Coasts.
Politics & Policymakers
At the beginning of the decade, the world watched as President Clinton grappled with scandal and narrowly avoided impeachment. Fearing they might lose the White House during the 2000 Presidential Election,the Clinton administration submits an unusually large number of appropriations to the Department of Labor and the EPA in a last ditch effort to enact their agenda by back-door means.
George W. Bush defeats Al Gore in the 2000 presidential elections. President Bush’s strong position in favor of domestic energy policy inspires the coal industry. Bush nominates Elaine Chao as Secretary of Labor, New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman to lead the EPA, Michigan Sen. Spencer Abraham as Secretary of Energy, and Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton as Secretary of the Interior. Whitman supported voluntary compliance with pollution control over corporate fines. Abraham, who formerly advocated for abolishing the Department of Energy (DoE), strongly opposes extreme global warming controls.
General Lawson retires from the National Mining Association (NMA) at the end of 2000. The NMA names Jack Gerard president and CEO. Raised in Idaho’s silver mining district, Gerard is a lobbyist with mining roots. From the onset, he takes the NMA from an institutional-type lobbying organization to a more proactive organization. He holds annual meetings in Washington instead of resort destinations and begins marching mining executive around Capitol Hill to tell their story.
A year after President Bush flat out rejects the Kyoto Protocol, he announces a Clean Skies Initiative, which is a three-pollutant approach (NOx, SO2 and mercury) for power plants. It does not consider CO2 a pollutant and ties environmental protection to economic activity where limits are measured against U.S. gross domestic product.
During early April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court makes two decisions that have negative long-term implications for the coal business. It ruled that CO2 was in fact a pollutant and that the EPA should look at the total output of pollutants when determining compliance. As the global warming debate heats up, the Supreme Court is essentially saying that it understands the emissions debate and that the U.S. response to climate changes was already covered 50 years ago when Congress enacted the Clean Air Act (CAA).
Harold “Hal” Quinn is appointed CEO of the NMA during September 2008. Quinn is highly regarded among his peers as a sharp attorney who has represented the mining industry well in Washington. He brings nearly 30 years of experience to the position. He served as vice president under General Lawson when he merged the National Coal Association and American Mining Congress to form the NMA and as senior vice president under Jack Gerard, while he restructured the NMA. Quinn is an excellent choice because the coal industry is about to enter the fight of its lifetime as Democrats, with strong ties to environmental activism, win a land-slide victory in the 2008 presidential election.
The U.S. elects President Barack Obama and the democrats also win a majority in both houses of Congress. Obama appoints Lisa Jackson, an environmental zealot, to head the EPA. He appoints Steven Chu, who favors renewable energy, to head the DoE. The EPA begins to question mountaintop mining permits in West Virginia and also announces plans for some of the most stringent emissions policies for coal-fired power plants. The Obama administration’s War on Coal begins.
In December 2009, the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) pens an opinion piece, Coal Must Embrace the Future. In it, he berates the coal industry for fear mongering and grandstanding. Coal’s elder statesman, who was presented with the Coal Age Award 20 years early, lectures the coal industry and warns the miners not resist the changes that are inevitable as society moves to biomass and natural gas.
Controversy Erupts over Mountaintop Mining
The new decade opened with a Sen. Byrd (D-WV) leading a rally of 1,000 to 2,500 miners on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to support mountaintop mining, which is more commonly known as mountaintop removal mining, in West Virginia. Several operations had recently resumed mining after the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection lifted an order that halted the practice based on a 1999 court ruling.
Environmental activists appealed the decision by U.S. District Court’s landmark ruling on mountaintop mining. During December 2000, a three-judge panel heard arguments for and against overturning the ruling. They ruled that they lacked jurisdiction over the state’s mining laws. The environmental activists appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it refused to hear the case.
The same federal court in West Virginia then ruled that placement of waste from mountaintop mines in valleys (or valley-fills) violated the Clean Water Act. The ruling bars the Army Corp of Engineers from issuing the crucial 404 permits needed for mountaintop mining.
During June 2009, the Obama administration announced it was taking unprecedented steps to reduce the environmental impacts of mountaintop mining through a coordinated approach between the EPA, the Department of the Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers. The decision effectively placed 79 applications for Appalachian surface mining permits in limbo.
The EPA uses its “authority” to revoke a permit that had already been issued for Arch Coal’s Spruce No. 1 mine. Tempers flare throughout Appalachia as the Obama EPA oversteps its bounds.
High Profile Disasters Tarnish a Dramatic Improvement in Safety
Dave Lauriski replaces Davitt McAteer at the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Prior to this appointment, Lauriski served as general manager of Energy West Mining in Utah, and director of health, safety, environmental and governmental affairs for Interwest Mining. He was part of the mine safety team at the Willberg mine fire in Utah in 1984.
In September 2001, explosions rip through Jim Walter Resources’ Blue Creek No. 5 mine. The mine, probably the deepest and gassiest in the nation, suffers two explosions on September 23, and a subsequent fire, killing 13 miners. The disaster is the worst to occur since the Willberg mine fire. The event is over-shadowed by the September 11 terrorist attacks and doesn’t receive much media attention.
In July 2002, nine miners are rescued from an inundated Quecreek mine in Pennsylvania. In an exclusive, the engineers responsible for locating and rescuing the miners describe to Coal Age how they approached and solved the problem. Basically a surveyor went into a cornfield with a GPS unit and said, “If they are alive, they are here.” He was correct. The rescuers brought drill rigs onto the site and dropped a rescue capsule and retrieved all nine miners—alive. The mine rescue received a lot of media attention. The happy ending, rare for coalfield tragedies, briefly changes the perspective for mine rescue operations. They would soon be sorely disappointed.
Lauriski steps down and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao appoints David G. Dye acting secretary for mine safety and health in November 2004. While there were some complaints about Lauriski’s performance, especially from the UMWA, fatality rates remained low during his tenure even with the Jim Walter Resources explosion.
On January 2, 2006, an explosion at ICG’s Sago mine in West Virginia kills 12 miners. Shortly after that tragic event, two more incidents in West Virginia take the lives of four more miners. West Virginia begins to pass mine safety laws in a knee-jerk reaction. Coal Age reports that Dye bungles a Senate mine safety hearing, which only motivates Senators to take similar actions on a federal level. President Bush nominates Richard Stickler as the new head of MSHA, but the Senate does not confirm him.
Another explosion occurs at the Darby No. 1 mine killing five more miners on May 20. Two more fatalities brought the year-to-date total to 33 by the end of May.
On June 15, 2006, President Bush signed the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act into law. It represents the first revisions to the federal mine safety laws since the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act became law in 1977. The provisions include:
- Requiring each underground coal mine to develop and continuously update a written emergency response plan;
- Requiring each underground coal mine to make available two experienced rescue teams capable of a one-hour response time;
- Requiring wireless two-way communications and electronic tracking in three years;
- Giving MSHA the authority to request an injunction to shut down a mine in cases where a mine operator has refused to pay a penalty;
- Raising the criminal penalty cap to $250,000 for first offenses and $500,000 for second offenses, as well as establishing a maximum civil penalty of $220,000 for flagrant violations;
- Creating a scholarship program to mitigate an anticipated shortage of trained and experienced miners and MSHA inspectors; and
- Establishing the Brookwood-Sago mine safety grants program to provide training grants to better identify, avoid and prevent unsafe working conditions in and around mines.
President Bush uses a Senate recess to appoint Stickler to head MSHA during October 2006. He was previously director for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Deep Mine Safety. Stickler has more than 37 years of mining experience, including the management of underground and surface mining operations. Stickler will be responsible for administering the MINER Act of 2006.
On Thursday, August 16, 2007, a significant bounce killed three rescue workers, including one MSHA inspector, trying to locate six miners at the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah. The six miners were unaccounted for after the mine suffered a large cave-in on the morning of August 6. The owner settles with the survivors for an undisclosed amount. The media reports it is the largest settlement in Utah’s mining history, which would be greater than the $22 million settlement paid for the Willberg mine fire that killed 27 miners in 1984.
MSHA begins to more closely monitor compliance records and begins to issue warnings for potential patterns of violations during June 2007—a law that had been rarely used up until now. Of the seven mines that received the letters, five showed a dramatic reduction in S&S violations by the beginning of 2008.
During the two years since the MINER Act has been enacted, MSHA has published four final rules (mine seals, rescue teams, civil penalties and emergency evacuation) and during June 2008 it proposed two more (refuge alternatives and belt air).
Despite a backlog of more than 9,000 cases before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Commission, Stickler advocates a more aggressive approach on enforcement. The coal operators begin to push back and contest every violation that MSHA cites tying up the courts.
President Obama appoints Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary for Mine Safety and Health. Main worked as an advocate for miner safety under the UMWA for 22 years. Main soon finds himself in front of Congress explaining a backlog of contested citations. At the time, there are 16,000 cases before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Commission with at least $195 million in outstanding fines. In 2006, the backlog was 2,100 cases.
On April 9, 2010, Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine suffers an explosion, which kills 29 miners. It would become the worst mining disaster since the 1970 Finley Coal Explosion that killed 38 miners in Kentucky. More than 2,000 people, including President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, gathered in Beckley, W.Va., to mourn the tragedy.
In the wake of the worst mining tragedy in 40 years, both Massey Energy and MSHA prepare to defend their actions or the lack thereof. Correctly determining who or what was at fault and the chain of events that led to the explosion will have long-term implications for the coal business and the fate of Massey Energy. Ultimately, the investigation determines that a poorly maintained shearing machine sparked a methane ignition that propagated through a mine with hazardous levels of coal dust accumulations.
Acting on orders from the president, Main begins a nationwide inspection blitz on underground coal mining operations. Underground coal operators are besieged with enforcement activity the likes of which they have never seen before. MSHA uses every tool at its disposal to try and find the next potential disaster and eliminate it.
An Organized UMWA Gets What it Wants
In mid-December 2001, the UMWA and the BCOA reached an agreement on a new national contract, more than year before the old five-year accord was set to expire. The new five-year agreement would run through December 31, 2006, ensuring labor peace in the coalfields for another five years. Active union miners now stand at 26,000. Overall the contract covers more than 100,000, which includes laid off miners and retirees.
The UMWA ratified the next collective bargaining agreement with the BCOA during December 2006 with an unprecedented 80% voting in favor of the agreement. CONSOL Energy is the only member of the BCOA at this point. The new five-year agreement offers a 20% increase in pay across the board, $1,000 bonus (paid immediately), $10 per month per year increase for future retirees and full health care for active and retired miners and dependents. Underground miners working at the top rate will now earn $24.42/hour in the final year of the contract.
Developments in Surface Mining
The decade opens with Bucyrus International launching the 495BII electric shovel that has a 100-ton-per-pass nominal payload.
Cat launches the MineStar system, an integrated information system that links mining machines with business applications. Modules provide tracking for truck assignments, machine health, production and overall business planning. It uses several technologies, including GPS, high capacity wireless mobile communications, onboard computers and office software.
Superior Highwall Mining revives the Metec system for recovering coal from seams exposed at the highwall base. Mounted on crawler pads, the system pushes a continuous miner cutter head into the coal seam while a set of enclosed twin screws auger the coal back to the surface. A slewing conveyor stockpiles coal on the bench. The machine can cut the full width of the cutter head to about 1,000 deep into the mountain. It leaves a fender in place to support the mountain. Some mines pumped the void full of concrete (or flyash) and then return to pull the fender.
On Friday, December 17, 2004, Arch Coal’s Black Thunder mine achieved the 1-billion-ton shipment milestone. During the 27-year life of the mine, it has loaded more than 71,000 trains. Stretched end-to-end, the trains would circle the equator more than three times.
Digital electronic detonators for use in blasting have been on the market for more than six years. During the early part of this decade, they have gained widespread acceptance.
During 2003-2004, BNI Coal’s Center mine completes construction of America’s first new dragline in more than a decade. The first sections of the Liberty dragline’s tub assembly arrived during March 2003 and the machine begins operating in October 2004. An article in the March 2005 details the erection process from start to finish.
P&H launches the C-Series of electric shovels and rotary blasthole drills. According to the company, the C series deliver substantial improvements in three key areas—control, comforts and consistency—with improved performance enabled by the Centurion Control System. Centurion’s monitoring and diagnostics capabilities translate into improved machine health, reliability and safety.
Cat breaks with the mechanical drive tradition and launches the 345-ton 795F electric-drive haul truck. The company says its customers want a Cat truck and it sees the addition of an electric drive as a complementary move.
Most of the haul truck manufacturers are working on improving the machine’s visibility. Several object detection systems are tested. The hope is that the trucks will be able to detect smaller objects in their immediate vicinity, other equipment such as trucks on the haul roads and the electric shovels, and large stationary items, such as the truck dumps. Some of the most sophisticated systems use a combination of radar and front- and rear-view cameras to improve operator visibility.
Underground Mining Equipment
During May 2000, Fletcher debuts new roof bolting technology. The company offers the Quad Ranger, a new four-head bolter, and also discusses its new Feedback Control System. The system uses a microprocessor to perform the same tasks as a PLC in a much more reliable and cost-effective package. It incorporates manual control input with the feedback driven drill and bolt cycles.
After receiving approval from West Virginia mining authorities, Peabody Energy’s Rivers Edge mine in Boone County, W.Va., becomes the first mine in West Virginia to deploy diesel-powered technology underground during July 2003.
In October 2003, Joy Mining Machinery announced a major breakthrough. It was applying AC variable frequency drives (VFDs) to shuttle cars, which would provide significant increases in power, speed and productivity.
In 2000, U.S. longwall population falls to 59. Throughout the decade, the total number of longwalls would hover between a low of 49 and 55. Total production and productivity continues to improve.
The Joy 7LS shearer had become very popular among longwall operators. When the system was introduced in the late 1990s, Joy hailed it as a breakthrough as far as longwall haulage. The system also relies on VFDs, which gives the operator absolute speed control with providing greater speed for cutting and flitting. When Joy acquired American Longwall it also gained the knowledge necessary to improve the hydraulic cylinders on the ranging arms. With an improved electronics package, the system provides extreme overload capability to the AC drive.
Spurred by the MINER Act of 2006, integrators and OEMs gain approval for various new communication and tracking systems for underground miners. While the range and other specifications have not yet been clearly defined, by December 31, 2007, MSHA has observed 27 communication systems at various mine sites. In general, the technologies can be divided into leaky-feeder (with a redundant backbone), self-healing mesh systems and through the earth (TTE) technologies. In less than 18 months, modern communication equipment was being installed in underground coal mines.
Coal Preparation
The advent of high-capacity processing equipment, including multi-slope screens and large diameter cyclones, has enabled plant designers to install more raw coal processing capacity per unit of plant volume than ever before. Using modern high-capacity equipment also reduces maintenance time and feed piping and chute work. Plant designers give more thought into making the area around the equipment easier to negotiate. They are more cognizant of overhead cranes and lighting.
Prep plant managers are also adopting widespread use of compound spirals to process fines. Spirals are popular because they are relatively easy to install, operate and maintain. They do not require reagents or magnetite. The biggest downfall is low capacity.
During 2008, Coal Age re-ported the business of building prep plants was brisk with a record number of orders for new plants and upgrades. Many of those projects were completed before the market softened in 2009. The total population of U.S. prep plants now stands at 283.
And Then There Were Two…
Harnischfeger emerges from bankruptcy as Joy Global. The company used bankruptcy to reorganize during mid-May 2000 and returns to the mining market as a financially and operationally healthy company. In February 2008, Joy Global acquired Continental Conveyor.
Bucyrus International announced during December 2006 it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Deutsche Bergbau Technik (DBT), a subsidiary of RAG International in a deal valued at $731 million. DBT had recently purchased Long-Airdox from the Marmon Group. Similar to a move made by Harnischfeger in the 1990s, a primarily surface-oriented OEM acquires a primarily underground-oriented OEM. The difference is that both of these companies have extensive business platforms abroad.
In December 2010, Bucyrus acquired Terex’s Mining Division for $1.3 billion. The transaction makes Bucyrus the largest supplier of mining equipment. In addition to the company’s existing line of draglines, electric shovels, drills, conveyor systems and underground mining machinery, the transaction would add hydraulic excavators, haul trucks and highwall miners.
During October 2010, Caterpillar announces it entered into an agreement valued at $8.6 billion to acquire Bucyrus International. It would take nearly nine months for the two companies to consummate the transaction. Cat relocates its Global Mining headquarters to South Milwaukee and begins to assimilate the Bucyrus product line. The Bucyrus name suffers the same fate as all of the brands it had acquired.
Coal Age’s Path Mirrors that of the Industry
Steve Fiscor replaces Art Sanda as editor-in-chief of Coal Age in April 2000. While the magazine begins to offer consistent photography on the cover, the publisher (Primedia) be-gins to skimp on quality, printing the magazines on thin, poor quality paper and cutting back on the number pages and the number of magazines printed. For the October 2002 edition, Primedia publishes a 38-page edition of Coal Age. The company’s mindless pursuit of numbers becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as the market begins to doubt the publisher’s commitment.
In June 2003, Primedia decides unilaterally to close Coal Age and Engineering & Mining Journal (E&MJ). After fighting for the magazines and the people who worked for him, Fiscor is down-sized and E&MJ’s managing editor writes Coal Age’s epitaph. Primedia would continue to publish Coal Age, even though it had already pulled the plug on E&MJ. Primedia published a final combined July-August edition of Coal Age.
A private investor (Peter K. Johnson) purchased the titles and their ancillary properties. He and Fiscor form Mining Media International and immediately begin efforts to restore the properties. In September 2003, Mining Media publishes its first edition of Coal Age, which reverted back to the standard minimum of 52 pages. In it, Johnson issues a publisher’s statement: “We at Mining Media are pleased to bring you, the readers, our first edition of Coal Age. Our entire team is committed to delivering you a quality publication each month.”
Technically, the magazine never went out of print. Coal Age survived two world wars, and a depression, but once again desperate publishing executives made broad-brushed decisions that nearly rendered the title extinct. Many other industrial titles were not as fortunate and did close.
Under Mining Media, Coal Age began to flourish again. Fiscor and Johnson recruited a top-notch editorial and advertising sales team. The editorial office was relocated from Chicago to Jacksonville, Fla., further reducing overhead. Reader-ship levels were restored. The quality and thickness of the paper were improved substantially. Once the industry saw Mining Media breathing new life into the publications, they wanted to be a part of it too.
