US Western bituminous coal production totals 11.9 million st in Q3

US Western bituminous coal production totaled 11.9 million in the third quarter, up 8.1% from the previous quarter, Mine Safety and Health Administration data showed Nov. 11

From the year-ago quarter, output declined 24.6%, the data showed.

Wolverine Fuels’ Sufco mine in Utah was the top producer in the region with 1.4 million st. Output jumped 60.8% and 76.4% from the previous quarter and from the year-ago period, respectively.

Bull Mountains mine in Montana, operated by Signal Peak, produced over 1.3 million st in Q3, down 14.9% from Q2 and down 33.8% year on year.

Navajo Transitional Energy Company’s Navajo mine in Montana had output of nearly 1.3 million st, up 48% quarter on quarter and down 14.9% from the year-ago period.

On a state-by-state basis, Utah led in output with 3.8 million st. Utah production rose 4.6% from the previous quarter and rose 3.9% from the year-ago quarter. Sufco mine was the state’s top producer, followed by Wolverine Fuels’ Skyline #3 mine with production of 995,820 st, up 22.2% from Q3 and up 9.5% from the year-ago period.

Output from New Mexico totaled 2.8 million st, up 30% from the prior quarter and down 23% from Q3 2019. Navajo mine was the top producer in the state, followed by Peabody Energy’s El Segundo mine. El Segundo output totaled over 1.2 million st, up 20.1% from the quarter before and down 6.7% from the year-ago quarter.

Colorado coal production totaled almost 2.5 million st, up 7.2% from the previous quarter and down 25.4% from the year-ago quarter. Arch Coal’s West Elk mine was the top Colorado producer with 577,555 st, down 11.7% from the quarter before and down 53.3% year on year.

Quarterly production from Wyoming totaled 2 million st, up 9.1% from the previous quarter and down 20.2% from the year-ago quarter. Black Butte mine, operated by Black Butte coal, led output with 655,946 st, up 48.2% from Q3 and up 1.3% from Q3 2019.

Montana output was the least with just Bull Mountains production.