Peabody Energy, Arch Coal to Combine Powder River Basin, Colorado Assets, an Industrial Info Market Brief

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) and Arch Coal Incorporated (NYSE:ARCH) said on Wednesday they plan to form a joint venture to combine their Powder River Basin (PRB) and Colorado coal mine properties. Peabody will own 66.5% of the joint venture, and Arch will own 33.5%.

The joint venture will combine two of the largest coal mines in the U.S - Arch's Black Thunder Mine and Peabody's North Antelope Rochelle Mine (NARM) - into a single complex. The move combines more than 2.5 billion tons worth of coal reserves. NARM has 1.7 billion tons of reserve and Black Thunder has approximately 816 million tons. The North Antelope Rochelle Mine sold more than 71 million tons of coal in 2018, and the Black Thunder mine sold 98.4 million tons.

The agreement also will include three Powder River Basin mines: Caballo (Peabody), Rawhide (Peabody) and Coal Creek (Arch), and two Colorado mines: West Elk Mine (Arch) and Twentymile (Peabody).

Industrial Info Resources is tracking about $485 million worth of U.S. projects by Peabody Energy and Arch Coal. Click here for the list of projects and see graph below showing the companies'combined project activity by market region.