Construction Underway for Arch Coal's $200 Million Mountain Laurel Underground Mine in West Virginia

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Arch Coal Incorporated (NYSE:ACI) (Saint Louis, Missouri) is well underway with construction of the $200 million Mountain Laurel coal mine near Sharples, Logan County, West Virginia. The company awarded Industrial Resources Incorporated (Fairmont, West Virginia) a turn-key contract to construct a 2,000-ton-per-day coal preparation plant, and construction began early this year. Industrial Resources is self-performing the majority of the work, but has released specialty subcontracts for painting and concrete work. Additional specialty subcontracts will be let for more concrete work, as well as a plant oxygen/acetylene system.

Industrial Resources is hoping to be complete with plant construction by November 2005. The mine is schedule to start operating in May of 2006 from the continuous mining section. A longwall section of the mine is expected to open in 2007. At its peak, Mountain Laurel is expected to employ about 375 people and produce five million tons of coal per year.

Arch Coal is planning about $350 million in capital expenditures in 2005, the majority of which will go to the Mountain Laurel project, as well as the development of a three-million-ton-per-year mine at the Skyline complex in Utah.

Mountain Laurel is one of a series of large new mines and mine expansions that energy companies are developing to take advantage of improving eastern U.S. coal demand. See June 16, 2005 news article for details - Demand for Eastern U.S. Coal Up-Mining Expansions Mount.

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