KenAmerican acquired the Island Coal Terminal in McLean County for $2 million in April from Oxford Resource Partners, according to the McLean County Clerk’s Office in Calhoun. Oxford, which began withdrawing from the high-sulfur Illinois Basin (IB) after losing an 800,000-ton-per-year sales contract with Big Rivers Electric Corp. in early 2012, announced the terminal sale in April but declined to identify the buyer.
Gary Broadbent, assistant general counsel for Ohio-based Murray Energy, said KenAmerican had used the terminal some in the past to ship coal from its Paradise No. 9 underground thermal coal mine in nearby Muhlenberg County, “but not recently. As stated, we are using the terminal and we expect that there will be an increase in shipping via the terminal.”
According to Broadbent, KenAmerican generally trucks coal from Paradise to its customers. Owning the terminal potentially could expand the mine’s customer base. The terminal’s capacity was not disclosed.
Paradise 9 produced about 2.4 million tons of thermal coal in 2013, an increase over its 2.2 million output in 2012. The mine produced almost 600,000 tons in the first quarter of 2014, placing it on a pace to repeat last year’s performance. It has 207 employees.