Macarthur Coal

Macarthur Coal

Company type	Public
Industry	Mining
Founded	October 1995 (1995-10)
Founder	Ken Talbot
Defunct	2011 (2011)
Fate	Acquired by Peabody Energy
Headquarters	Brisbane , Australia
Products	Metallurgical coal (low-volatile pulverised injection coal)
Parent	Peabody Energy

Macarthur Coal was an Australian mining enterprise established in October 1995 by its former CEO, Ken Talbot. The company specialised in the production of metallurgical coal, with a particular emphasis on low-volatile pulverised injection coal utilized in steel manufacturing. The vast majority of its coal output was destined for export from Australia.

Assets

Macarthur Coal maintained a 73.3% ownership interest in its primary mining operations. By the year 2010, it managed open-cut mining sites at Coppabella—where coal extraction commenced in October 1998, yielding 2.4 million tonnes of coal from 2.9 million tonnes of extracted material in 2009—and at Moorvale, which began producing coal in March 2003 and achieved 2.2 million tonnes of coal from 2.9 million tonnes of material. Additionally, the company was advancing a third mining project at Middlemount with an initial annual production target of 1.8 million tonnes of material. A fourth mine called Codrilla, located at Valkyrie, received development approval in 2011.

History

In early 2010, Macarthur Coal's attempt to acquire Gloucester Coal was unsuccessful; concurrently, takeover proposals from New Hope and Peabody Energy were declined.

A force majeure event was declared for a period of five months ending on 28 April 2011 as a result of the 2010–2011 Queensland floods.

In May 2011, the company announced a 38% increase in its estimated coal reserves, raising the total to 2.26 billion tonnes.

Later that year, Macarthur Coal was purchased by the US-based corporation Peabody Energy.

See also

• Coal in Australia