POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY
109 Appalachian Drive
Beckley, WV  25801
304-255-9030 - Tel • 304-255-9032 - Fax

Pocahontas Coal Company has more than 230 employees, with operations located in southern Raleigh County, W.Va., in the communities of Killarney, Josephine, Lillybrook and Affinity.

Pocahontas has three deep mines, a surface mine and two highwall miner operations. These mining operations are supported by the recently upgraded East Gulf preparation plant and coal-loading facilities. The company’s annual coal production capacity is more than 1 million tons, with reserves totaling 72 million recoverable tons of low-volatile metallurgical coal.

Although the company’s Affinity complex is currently idle, planned future improvements to the operation include the reopening of an idled coal mine, which requires rehabilitating two existing slopes and sinking two shafts, as well as building a 1,000-ton-per-hour preparation plant on site. When the $100 million project is complete, Affinity will operate four super-section, continuous miner units capable of producing 1.5 million clean tons per year.

The Affinity complex will feature improved mine-ability, thicker coal seams and better quality coal than the Pocahontas No. 3 seam. In addition, the low-vol products shipped from Affinity can be sent via CSX or Norfolk Southern, which provides a major transportation advantage when compared to competitors’ low-vol sources.

Affinity’s opening is anticipated to take place in 2012, provided that market demand for high-quality, low-vol, metallurgical coal will support the additional supply. At full capacity, Affinity and East Gulf will be capable of combined annual production of nearly 3 million tons of coal from a low-vol reserve.

In 2005, United Coal Company purchased the assets of Beckley, W.Va.-based White Mountain Mining Co., LLC and certain affiliates to establish Pocahontas Coal Company.