Louisville, Kentucky (Platts)--20Nov2012/529 pm EST/2229 GMT
Signal Peak Energy has lifted a force majeure in place since September and is producing and shipping coal once again at its Signal Peak longwall mine in Montana, a company spokesman said Tuesday. "They're back to full production," Mike Dawson, the spokesman, said in an interview. "The mine is shipping coal. They're fully ramped up, so they'll keep producing." The company declared force majeure earlier this fall because it could not ship the mine's bituminous steam coal in the latter half of September and all of October because a longwall move was taking longer than expected to complete.Article continues below...Request a free trial of: International Coal ReportInternational Coal Report and its daily companion, Coal Trader International, deliver expert and respected price assessments for coal trading in the Atlantic and Pacific markets including price assessments for European CIF ARA, FOB Newcastle, Richards Bay and Indonesia.
Signal Peak Energy has lifted a force majeure in place since September and is producing and shipping coal once again at its Signal Peak longwall mine in Montana, a company spokesman said Tuesday. "They're back to full production," Mike Dawson, the spokesman, said in an interview. "The mine is shipping coal. They're fully ramped up, so they'll keep producing." The company declared force majeure earlier this fall because it could not ship the mine's bituminous steam coal in the latter half of September and all of October because a longwall move was taking longer than expected to complete.
Article continues below...
International Coal Report and its daily companion, Coal Trader International, deliver expert and respected price assessments for coal trading in the Atlantic and Pacific markets including price assessments for European CIF ARA, FOB Newcastle, Richards Bay and Indonesia.
Dawson said the force majeure was ended earlier this month. Signal Peak Energy exports some of the mine's coal to overseas markets but, for competitive reasons, does not disclose export tonnage amounts or its customers. However, some coal is believed to be going to India. The force majeure came at an inopportune time for the mine, which was formerly known as Bull Mountain. After some fits and starts following the purchase of the mine by Ohio-based FirstEnergy and Boich Group more than two years ago, the mine was nearing peak production earlier this year. Through the first three quarters of 2012, Signal Peak produced 4.9 million st, compared with 5.1 million st for all of 2011, according to the US Mine Safety and Health Administration. The mine has 202 employees and is located near Roundup in Musselshell County, Montana. In addition to FirstEnergy and Boich, Pinesdale LLC, a subsidiary of Swiss-based trader Gunvor Group, owns a one-third stake in Signal Peak.--Bob Matyi, newsdesk@platts.com--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron_greenhalgh@platts.com
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