Expanding Coal Age’s Reach

Since we formed Mining Media International Inc. more than two years ago and purchased Coal Age as well as Engineering & Mining Journal (E&MJ), we have been on a mission to grow circulation. Today, I’m happy to report that Coal Age has more than 12,100 readers, which includes more than 10,700 who enjoy the print edition and more than 2,900 who receive the digital edition. If you haven’t seen the digital edition on CoalAge.com, you should check it out and sign up for the free weekly newsletter while you’re there.

Growing the readership of a trade journal serving a mature industry is difficult, especially if that title is limited to one country. With the recent bankruptcies and closures in the U.S., production numbers have declined and so has readership. The first move was to bring aboard more readers from the power generation and transportation sectors. Then, we began to reach out to coal operators in other regions. Today, Coal Age has a significant amount of readership in Australia (+500), Canada (+330), Indonesia (+250) and South Africa (+70).

Readers may have noticed a difference in the way we now present editorial content. In the past, for example, Coal Age carried 10 pages or so of news, eight of which pertained to the U.S. coal business. News from around the world wasn’t given the editorial space it deserved. Now, each edition opens to an editorial spread called Leading Developments that covers the big stories happening in the coal business worldwide. Then, the reader sees U.S. news and then worldwide news. The feature articles and technical content have always had value for coal operators everywhere.

Why did we make this move? It’s become incredibly obvious that much of the current growth opportunities for American coal operators lie outside the U.S. And, there’s a common bond among this readership. Last month, I attended the AIMEX conference in Sydney, which attracted a fair amount of miners from the surrounding coalfields, and I also visited with mining companies and engineering firms in Brisbane. We have a lot in common; conversations are strikingly similar, especially when it comes to the polarized world in which we live.

There is the need to stay informed. We work in one of the few industries that is constantly under assault from a well-funded, yet misinformed environmental movement. Coal production and demand is growing in India and southeast Asia and many new coal-fired power plants are under construction in those regions and that’s one of the reasons it has been a central focus in the trade dispute between the U.S. and China.

We have made a few adjustments, but we haven’t forgotten who brought us to the dance. The bulk of Coal Age’s readers (81.5% or 9,850) are based in the U.S. Coal Age is an American magazine serving coal operators and those interested in coal. We will continue to strive to do the best job we can to keep you informed so you can do the best job you can.