American Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:AREC) said it has engaged a contract mining company to operate its Carnegie 2 mine in Kentucky.
The company said its Carnegie 2 mine is the second of a series of metallurgical carbon mines located in Pike County, accessing high-quality carbon from the Alma seam specific -- an essential ingredient to the production of new steel.
"Now that we have restarted our McCoy Elkhorn processing and logistics complex as well as our Carnegie 1 mine, it is important for us to rapidly scale our production of high-quality metallurgical carbon to meet the growing demands of the infrastructure market and our customer base,” said American Resources CEO Mark Jensen in a statement.
READ: American Resources expands carbon production with restart of its McCoy Elkhorn complex and Carnegie 1 mine
“With so many constrained supply chains worldwide, we are expecting a longer-term tightening in the metallurgical carbon market when combined with a lack of invested capital throughout the industry. We find ourselves in an exciting position to be a long-term supplier given the unique growth platform of assets we have built over the past six years and the restructuring efforts we have made to cut costs and streamline efficient operations," Jensen added.
The company's Carnegie 2 mine accesses the same boundary of premium High Vol A/B carbon as its Carnegie 1 mine. The Carnegie 2 mine will utilize one continuous miner under a single-section mining plan.
American Resources said it expects production at Carnegie 2 to begin before the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. Once fully ramped, the production rate is expected to be approximately 8,000 to 12,000 clean tons per month to enhance and compliment the production of the Carnegie 1 mine.
All production from the Carnegie mines will be processed at the company’s nearby McCoy Elkhorn facility and shipped into both the domestic and international markets.
American Resources noted that Carnegie 2 mine will be operated by the contract miner for a fixed fee per clean ton of about US$50 per ton, plus the cost of power and infrastructure.
The company added that the engaged contract mining company comes with decades of mining experience throughout the region and brings a team of highly skilled miners which allows the company to better navigate a tighter labor market since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent, expanded unemployment benefit programs.
American Resources said it continues to focus on running efficient streamlined operations in being a new-aged supplier of raw materials to the infrastructure and electrification marketplace in the most sustainable of ways, while also helping the world achieve its goals of carbon neutrality.
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