Warrior Met Coal Weathers Harsh Market, Preps New U.S. Mine

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Coal miners face challenging market conditions globally--and not just the ones that dig up coal used for power generation. Warrior Met Coal Incorporated (NYSE:HCC) (Brookwood, Alabama), which specializes in the production of the metallurgical (met) coal used in steel production, took a hit from weak market prices in 2024, despite a jump in sales, and acknowledges the trend could continue in 2025. Industrial Info is tracking nearly $1 billion worth of active and proposed projects from Warrior, most of which is going toward an entirely new mine in eastern Alabama.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing Warrior's active and proposed projects, by type.

Warrior's net revenues were reported to be $1.5 billion for 2024, a 9% decrease from 2023, despite a 6% increase in sales volumes and 8% increase in production volumes. Net income stood at $250.6 million, a 47.6% decrease from 2023.

Walter Scheller, the chief executive officer of Warrior, emphasized the company's improved production in a quarterly earnings-related press release: "The company had a very successful 2024 as we met or exceeded all guidance targets, achieved sales and production volumes not seen since 2019, recorded the highest annual production from Mine No. 4, and produced the first tons from our world-class Blue Creek growth project."

Warrior's most significant progress in 2024 was at its much-anticipated, $600 million Blue Creek Coal Mine in Berry, Alabama, which is designed to produce 4.8 million tons per year of met coal when fully completed. The company says Blue Creek is "one of the last remaining untapped, premium, high-quality, high-volatile A coal reserves in the U.S.," referring to a type of met coal that ignites more easily than other grades. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Project and Plant databases can learn more from a detailed project report and plant profile.

Despite being more than a year from its full completion, Warrior saw its first output from Blue Creek during the second half of 2024, with 170,000 short tons of unprepared met coal produced in the fourth quarter. "The combination of our existing mines continuing to perform well and production at Blue Creek drove a 7% increase in production in the fourth quarter," Scheller said in an earnings-related conference call earlier this week.

Scheller also pointed to Blue Creek's $150 million preparation plant, which is designed to clean, crush and sort met coal produced at the mine for use in steel production. "All major preparation plant equipment is on-site awaiting installation," he said. "After the preparation plant starts up, we expect to begin selling Blue Creek steelmaking coal in the second half of 2025." Subscribers can learn more from a detailed project report.

To service the Blue Creek project, Warrior is preparing to begin construction on a $50 million rail loadout in Southern Walker County, with an overland belt conveyor connecting nearby areas to the facility. Warrior says it made "considerable progress" on the belt structure during the fourth quarter, as well as a barge loadout on the nearby Lost Creek. Subscribers can learn more from a detailed project report.

"They'll have several months where they'll get to figure out if there's any weaknesses in their system that need to be firmed up," Scheller said of the partners involved in the rail project. "And even if when the belt's not ready and we're trucking some coal from the preparation plant over the rail loadout, we'll begin moving coal then. So, I think we have a really good plan to have us set up by the time that longwall starts. We should be in great shape--the port, the rail and the coal mine."

Warrior has two active mines--Mine No. 4 and Mine No. 7 in Brookwood, Alabama--that produce 2.1 million and 6.2 million metric tons per year of met coal, respectively. At both facilities, the company periodically moves its longwall equipment to a new coal face after the previous one has been depleted: every nine to 10 months at No. 4, and every three to four years at No. 7. Both mines are set for $2.5 million longwall moves this year. Subscribers can learn more from detailed reports on the No. 4 and No. 7 projects.

The company also is weighing a proposed expansion at No. 4 to boost output. The area eyed for the expansion has an estimated 24 million tons of recoverable coal, although it is not yet known how much Warrior would seek for annual output. Subscribers can learn more from a detailed project report.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project and Plant databases can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of detailed reports for active and proposed projects from Warrior.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).