I have just found a weapon of mass destruction inside the borders of the United States. No, it is not a dirty bomb owned by the terrorists, a nuke controlled by Iran or an ISIS affiliated murderer. Nope, it is in Washington, D.C.—and the name is Barack Obama. He has killed hundreds of thousands of jobs in just one industry—plus been able to significantly raise the cost of energy for all Americans, costing us tens of billions of dollars MORE to heat our homes.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the biggest American producer of coking coal, Alpha Natural Resources, could file for bankruptcy as soon as Monday.
Competitor Walter Energy filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, and several others have done the same this year.
Now, two companies are so pressed by 10-year-low coal prices, that they’ve agreed to sell their jointly owned Australian coking mine for A$1 ($0.73).
Coking coal, also known as metallurgic coal, is used for steel production.
He has killed off the clean coal industry, lower energy costs and literally closed down towns. With a pen and a phone he has lived up to his middle name, Hussein.
A $600 million coal mine just sold for less than $1
Corey Stern, Business Insider, 7/31/15 h
There’s more bad news for the coal industry.
On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the biggest American producer of coking coal, Alpha Natural Resources, could file for bankruptcy as soon as Monday.
Competitor Walter Energy filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, and several others have done the same this year.
Now, two companies are so pressed by 10-year-low coal prices, that they’ve agreed to sell their jointly owned Australian coking mine for A$1 ($0.73).
Coking coal, also known as metallurgic coal, is used for steel production.
In 2012, the Japan-based Sumitomo bought a 50% stake in the Isaac Plains mine for A$430 million ($314 million), thus valuing it at A$860 ($628 million). On Thursday, Sumitomo and its co-owner — Brazil-based Vale — agreed to sell the company to Stanmore Coal for virtually nothing.
According to a statement from Stanmore on Thursday, Sumitomo and Vale will also pay the buyer for some of the contractual commitments it will now be responsible for. This includes fixed infrastructure changes and working capital requirements.
So why is Stanmore essentially getting paid to take over the mine, its processing facilities, and its rail infrastructure? Well, the company will also assume the A$32 million ($23.5 million) rehabilitation obligation while coking coal prices remain depressed because of oversupply.
The company is optimistic as it takes on this huge risk, however, and plans to restart mining at Isaac Plains in the first half of 2016, while cutting production to only 1.1 Mt per year.
Stanmore purchased the adjacent Wotonga deposit in early July and plans to integrate operations at the sites.
“Isaac Plains provides us with all of the necessary infrastructure and sufficient minable coal to commence mining in 2016, while the neighboring Wotonga deposit is anticipated to provide us with a significant mine life extension at a materially lower cost of production,” Nick Jorss, Stanmore’s managing director, said.
“We have carefully assessed over 40 growth opportunities in coal over the past two years before selecting Isaac Plains and Wotonga as the right fit for our strategy and risk appetite,” he added. “We are now working hard towards the transition to mining operations to ensure success in what remains a challenging coal market.”
Reuters
About Stephen Frank
If you bankrupt the coal industry,the mines sell cheap.The backers of urkel the petulant child in chief buy them cheap,and then,surprise,surprise,the regulations are rolled back by urkel or an agreeable successor.It’s a pretty neat payback by a corrupt administration.It’s a bad deal for the employees,original shareholders,and anyone who needs energy.So guess who matters to urkel.