Warrior Met Coal Inc is relaunching the development of its Blue Creek reserves into a new world-class longwall mine located in Alabama, near its existing mines. Once completed, this transformational growth investment will reinforce Warrior’s position as the premier US pure-play producer of premium metallurgical (coal products that are sought by customers throughout the global steel industry. Met coal, unlike thermal coal, has unique physical properties and is used solely for the production of steel.Previously, the company had delayed the development of the Blue Creek reserves due to the uncertainty of Covid-19, as well as market conditions and the labour strike. As market conditions have significantly improved and the company’s cash generation and cash on hand have significantly increased, the company has decided now to move forward with the development.The Blue Creek development will be a single longwall mine and is expected to have the capacity to produce an average of 4.8 million tpy of premium High-Vol A met coal over the first 10 years of production. It is one of the last remaining large scale, untapped premium High Vol A met coal reserves in the US.Once fully developed, the company expects Blue Creek to increase Warrior’s annual production capacity by 60% and expand its product portfolio to its global customers, by offering three premium hard coking coals that are expected to achieve the highest premium met coal prices in the seaborne markets. Warrior controls approximately 70 million short tons of recoverable reserves and 49 million t of resources at Blue Creek, which totals to over 119 million t. Warrior has the ability to acquire adjacent reserves that would increase total recoverable reserves at the mine. The inclusion of all coal reserves, resources, and adjacent properties would extend the life of mine reserves to approximately 170 million t. Under this expanded mine plan, Blue Creek is expected to have a mine life of approximately 50 years assuming a single longwall operation.
Warrior Met Coal Inc is relaunching the development of its Blue Creek reserves into a new world-class longwall mine located in Alabama, near its existing mines. Once completed, this transformational growth investment will reinforce Warrior’s position as the premier US pure-play producer of premium metallurgical (coal products that are sought by customers throughout the global steel industry. Met coal, unlike thermal coal, has unique physical properties and is used solely for the production of steel.Previously, the company had delayed the development of the Blue Creek reserves due to the uncertainty of Covid-19, as well as market conditions and the labour strike. As market conditions have significantly improved and the company’s cash generation and cash on hand have significantly increased, the company has decided now to move forward with the development.The Blue Creek development will be a single longwall mine and is expected to have the capacity to produce an average of 4.8 million tpy of premium High-Vol A met coal over the first 10 years of production. It is one of the last remaining large scale, untapped premium High Vol A met coal reserves in the US.Once fully developed, the company expects Blue Creek to increase Warrior’s annual production capacity by 60% and expand its product portfolio to its global customers, by offering three premium hard coking coals that are expected to achieve the highest premium met coal prices in the seaborne markets. Warrior controls approximately 70 million short tons of recoverable reserves and 49 million t of resources at Blue Creek, which totals to over 119 million t. Warrior has the ability to acquire adjacent reserves that would increase total recoverable reserves at the mine. The inclusion of all coal reserves, resources, and adjacent properties would extend the life of mine reserves to approximately 170 million t. Under this expanded mine plan, Blue Creek is expected to have a mine life of approximately 50 years assuming a single longwall operation.
