RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Massey Energy Company announced today that it has completed the acquisition of select mining assets from the now bankrupt Appalachian Fuels, LLC and its affiliates. The assets, some of which were acquired in separate coal lease transactions, include 23 million tons of coal reserves, permitted deep and surface mines, a permitted preparation plant and associated refuse area, infrastructure and some mobile and mining equipment. They are located in Fayette County, WV, in close proximity to Massey's existing Mammoth and Nicholas Energy resource groups.
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Over half of the acquired reserves are high quality metallurgical coal in the Powellton and Eagle Coal Seams. Massey plans to resume mining metallurgical coal in the Powellton Seam within a few months. The coal produced will be processed at Massey's Mammoth preparation plant. The preparation plant and the other idle deep and surface mines acquired in the transaction will not be operating immediately but could be brought back into production as market conditions warrant.
"We are very pleased with this acquisition and expect it to be almost immediately accretive to earnings," said Massey's President, Baxter F. Phillips, Jr. "We have already included additional metallurgical coal sales from the acquired mines in our plans for 2010. In the longer term we expect the permitted preparation plant and refuse area to provide us with further opportunities for developing Massey acquired and controlled coal reserves in the surrounding region."
Massey Energy Company has a long history of making successful acquisitions of coal mining assets in Central Appalachia. The Company has increased its total coal reserves from 767 million tons in 1987 to more than 2.3 billion tons today. Of the total current reserves, 1.0 billion tons have metallurgical qualities and characteristics giving Massey the largest metallurgical coal reserves holding in the United States.
Company Description
Massey Energy Company, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, with operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia, is the largest coal company in Central Appalachia and is included in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
Forward Looking Statements
Statements in this press release relating to future events and other disclosures and statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements (as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) that involve risks and uncertainties. Caution must be exercised in relying on these forward-looking statements as actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements, which are based on our then current expectations as a result of market conditions, the actions by third parties, and many other factors. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties related to Massey, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see Massey's earnings releases and see "Risk Factors" in Massey's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequently filed interim reports. Such filings are available at Massey's website http://www.masseyenergyco.com/ or upon request from Massey's Investor Relations Department at 866-814-6512. Massey disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise.
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Massey Energy Company
CONTACT: Roger Hendriksen, Director, Investor Relations,
+1-804-788-1824
Web Site: http://www.masseyenergyco.com/
