“Murray Energy and Murray Kentucky are very pleased that we were able to complete this acquisition, ahead of schedule, with the support of the secured noteholders of Armstrong Energy,” said Robert E. Murray, chairman, president and CEO of Murray Energy. “This is a very important transaction for the employees of Western Kentucky, as well as for our lenders and customers. We look forward to suing our management and marketing expertise to ensure the maximum success of these operations.”
Western Kentucky now has more than 400 employees and owns three surface mines and two operating underground mines in the Illinois Basin. The underground mines are now known as the Western Kentucky Coal Co.’s Genesis mine (formerly the Kronos mine) and the Muhlenberg County Coal Co.’s Pride mine (formerly the Survant mine). Western Kentucky also owns three coal processing plants, certain river dock coal handling and rail loadout facilities.
“The completion of this transaction provides opportunity and stability for Western Kentucky’s employees,” Murray said. “It also provides operational consistency to our customers in the domestic and international export coal markets who rely on the coal that is, and will be, produced from these mines. We look forward to further developing these relationships and continuing to provide high quality, low-cost coal supplies to our electric utility customers.”
Of the approximately 445 million tons of proven and probable coal reserves acquired in this transaction, 337 million tons will be controlled by Western Kentucky, and 108 million tons will be controlled by Murray Energy’s KenAmerican Resources Inc.
