Core Natural Resources, Inc. operates as a producer and exporter of metallurgical and thermal coals.
With a focus on seaborne markets, the company plays an essential role in meeting the world's growing need for steel, infrastructure and energy; and has ownership interests in two marine export terminals.
Strategy
The company’s near-term strategy is focused on promptly and effectively integrating historic Arch with CONSOL Energy's business, assets and employees.
The company has broad and diver...
Core Natural Resources, Inc. operates as a producer and exporter of metallurgical and thermal coals.
With a focus on seaborne markets, the company plays an essential role in meeting the world's growing need for steel, infrastructure and energy; and has ownership interests in two marine export terminals.
Strategy
The company’s near-term strategy is focused on promptly and effectively integrating historic Arch with CONSOL Energy's business, assets and employees.
The company has broad and diverse assets that produce coal with qualities and blends capable of serving multiple growth markets and geographies. In addition, the company has strong North American logistics and export capabilities through ownership interests in two East Coast terminals and longstanding relationships with West Coast and Gulf Coast ports.
The company’s strategies are to opportunistically grow its presence in the industrial and metallurgical markets, while preserving coal sales to rail-served power plants in strategic market areas; and selectively grow its business to maximize stockholder value by capitalizing on synergies with its assets and expertise.
Principal Properties
Pennsylvania Mining Complex
Pennsylvania Mining Complex (PAMC): The Pennsylvania Mining Complex is located approximately 26 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, near the city of Washington and the borough of Waynesburg, all in Pennsylvania, and consists of three deep longwall mining operations - the Bailey Mine, the Enlow Fork Mine and the Harvey Mine. The company controls approximately 179,028 acres of mineral and/or surface rights as a complex collection of owned and/or leased tracts that range from less than an acre to several hundred acres in size covered by various coal deeds and coal lease agreements. Lease terms generally extend until all the coal is removed from the subject tract.
The company maintains the right to mine and remove almost all of the Pittsburgh Seam within the PAMC boundaries. As part of the PAMC, the company controls surface rights to approximately 24,092 acres through fee simple ownership. This includes ownership of the property upon which the surface facilities for mine access, processing, storing, and shipping are located, as well as 3,509 permitted acres for coarse and fine refuse disposal facilities.
The PAMC typically operates 4-5 longwalls with 15-17 continuous mining sections. The full annual production capacity of the PAMC is up to 28.5 million tons of coal. The central preparation plant is connected via conveyor belts to each of the PAMC's mines and cleans and processes up to 8,200 raw tons of coal per hour. The PAMC's on-site logistics infrastructure at the central preparation plant includes a dual-batch train loadout facility capable of loading up to 9,000 clean tons of coal per hour and 19.3 miles of track linked to separate Class I rail lines owned by Norfolk Southern and CSX, which significantly increases the PAMC's efficiency in meeting its customers' transportation needs. Sources of electrical power, water, supplies and materials are readily available. Electrical power is provided to the mines and facilities by regional utility companies. Water is supplied by public water services, surface impoundments or water wells.
Black Thunder: As of December 31, 2024, the Bailey Mine’s assigned and accessible reserve base contained an aggregate of 125.9 million tons of clean recoverable coal with an average as-received gross heat content of approximately 12,938 Btu per pound and an approximate average pounds of sulfur dioxide per mmBtu of 3.76. The Bailey Mine is the first mine developed at the Pennsylvania Mining Complex. For the year ended December 31, 2024, the Bailey Mine produced 11.6 million tons of coal.
Enlow Fork Mine. As of December 31, 2024, the Enlow Fork Mine’s assigned and accessible reserve base contained an aggregate of 239.2 million tons of clean recoverable coal with an average as-received gross heat content of approximately 13,011 Btu per pound and an approximate average pounds of sulfur dioxide per mmBtu of 3.06. The Enlow Fork Mine is located directly north of the Bailey Mine. Initial underground development was started from the Bailey Mine while the Enlow Fork slope was being constructed. Once the slope bottom was developed and the slope belt became operational, seals were constructed to separate the two mines. In 2014, a new slope and overland belt system was commissioned and a substantial portion of the Enlow Fork Mine was sealed. For the year ended December 31, 2024, the Enlow Fork Mine produced 9.2 million tons of coal.
Harvey Mine. As of December 31, 2024, the Harvey Mine’s assigned and accessible reserve base contained an aggregate of 192.5 million tons of clean recoverable coal with an average as-received gross heat content of approximately 12,940 Btu per pound and an approximate average pounds of sulfur dioxide per mmBtu of 4.08. The Harvey Mine is located directly east of the Bailey and Enlow Fork Mines. Similar to the Enlow Fork Mine, the Harvey Mine was developed off of the Bailey Mine’s slope bottom. For the year ended December 31, 2024, the Harvey Mine produced 5.7 million tons of coal.
Itmann Mining Complex - Non-Material Reserves
Itmann No. 5 Mine: The Itmann No. 5 Mine is located in Wyoming County, West Virginia, approximately 2.5 miles northwest of the town of Itmann. The company controls approximately 20,224 contiguous acres of mining rights (comprising 270 tracts), by ownership or lease, to the Pocahontas 3 seam (P3) and the Pocahontas 4 seam (P4). The majority (95%) of the acreage is held under coal leases with lengthy terms that are subject to industry standard royalties.
The mine accesses the P3 and P4 seams using a box cut drift entrance near an outcrop along Still Run Hollow. As of December 31, 2024, the Itmann No. 5 Mine's assigned and accessible reserve base contained an aggregate of 27.5 million tons of clean recoverable coal, enough to allow for more than 30 years of full-capacity production. Coal from the Itmann No. 5 Mine is extracted by underground methods using 6 continuous miner units in 3 super sections to achieve expected future capacity of approximately 900 thousand clean tons per year. For the year ended December 31, 2024, the Itmann No. 5 Mine produced 393 thousand tons of coal.
General access to the Itmann No. 5 Mine is via a well-developed network of primary and secondary roads serviced by state and local governments. These roads offer direct access to the mine and processing facilities and are typically open year-round. Primary vehicular access to the property is via State Route 10/16, which follows the north bank of the Guyandotte River. The Guyandotte Class I rail line runs along the south bank of the Guyandotte River. Sources of electrical power, water, supplies and materials are readily available. Electrical power is provided to the mines and facilities by a regional utility company. Water is recycled from the abandoned underground Itmann No. 1 and No. 2 Mines or supplied by water wells.
The Itmann Preparation Plant was constructed in 2022 and began processing coal in late September 2022. Coal is shipped from the Itmann No. 5 Mine via tandem trucks to the 600 raw TPH processing facility, which is located approximately 2.5 miles west of the mine along WV State Route 10/16. The plant includes clean coal material handling systems capable of handling up to 3,500 TPH of product along with a 3,500 TPH unit train loadout located on the Guyandotte Class I rail line, which can be served by both Norfolk Southern and CSX. Third-party coal is also trucked into the facility for processing, blending and shipment via rail or truck.
Thermal Mining Properties
Coal Creek: Coal Creek is a surface mining complex located on approximately 7,400 acres in Campbell County, Wyoming. The Coal Creek mining complex extracts thermal coal from the Wyodak-R1 and Wyodak-R3 seams. The Coal Creek complex consists of one active pit area and a loadout facility. The company ships all of the coal raw to its customers via the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads. The loadout facility can load a 15,000-ton train in less than three hours.
West Elk: The West Elk mining complex is located on approximately 18,400 acres in Gunnison County, Colorado. The West Elk mining complex extracts thermal coal from the E seam. The company controls a significant portion of the coal reserves through federal and state leases. The West Elk complex consists of a longwall, continuous miner sections, a preparation plant, and a loadout facility. The company ships most of the coal raw to its customers via the Union Pacific railroad. When required to improve the quality of some of the company’s coal production, it is processed through the 800 ton-per-hour preparation plant. The loadout facility can load an 11,000-ton train in less than three hours.
Metallurgical Mining Properties
Leer: The Leer complex is a longwall operation, located in Taylor County, West Virginia, that are primarily sold as High-Vol A metallurgical quality coal from the Lower Kittanning seam, and are part of approximately 93,200 acres that is considered its Tygart Valley area.
Leer South: The Leer South mining complex is a longwall operation in the Lower Kittanning seam with a preparation plant and a loadout facility located on approximately 26,500 acres in Barbour County, West Virginia.
Beckley: The Beckley mining complex is located on approximately 14,700 acres in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Beckley is extracting high quality, Low-Vol metallurgical coal in the Pocahontas No. 3 seam.
Mountain Laurel: The Mountain Laurel mining complex is located on approximately 38,200 acres in Logan County and Boone County, West Virginia. Underground mining operations at the Mountain Laurel mining complex extract High-Vol B metallurgical coal from the Alma and No. 2 Gas seams.
Itmann Mining Complex: The Itmann No. 5 Mine is located in Wyoming County, West Virginia. The company controls approximately 20,224 contiguous acres of mining rights, by ownership or lease, to the Pocahontas 3 seam and the Pocahontas 4 seam.
Terminals
The company’s ownership interests in two East Coast terminals are described below:
CONSOL Marine Terminal: Through the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, CONSOL Marine Terminals LLC, it provides coal export terminal services through the Port of Baltimore. The terminal can either store coal or load coal directly into vessels from rail cars. It is also the only major east coast United States coal terminal served by two Class I railroads, Norfolk Southern and CSX. In 2024, approximately 17.0 million tons of coal were shipped through the CONSOL Marine Terminal. Approximately 84% of the tonnage shipped was produced by the Pennsylvania Mining Complex. The CONSOL Marine Terminal has storage capacity of 1.1 million tons with more than thirty acres of capacity for stockpiles. The facility possesses blending capabilities, and it has transloaded approximately 14.7 million tons of coal per year on average over the past five years, with a throughput capacity of approximately 20 million tons. The facility primarily serves international customers.
Dominion Terminal: The company owns a 35% interest in Dominion Terminal Associates LLP, a limited liability partnership that operates a ground storage-to-vessel coal transloading facility in Newport News, Virginia. The facility has a rated throughput capacity of 20 million tons of coal per year and ground storage capacity of approximately 1.7 million tons. The facility primarily serves international customers, as well as domestic coal users located along the Atlantic coast of the United States.
Non-Core Coal Assets and Surface Properties
The company owns significant coal assets and surface properties that are not in its short or medium-term development plans.
Coal Marketing and Sales
The company sells coal produced by its mines and additional coal that is purchased by it from other producers. Approximately 36% of the company’s 2024 coal revenue was from the U.S. electric generators, 60% of its 2024 coal revenue was from export markets, and 4% of its 2024 coal revenue was from other domestic customers.
The company had sales to approximately 50 customers from its coal operations during the past two years. During 2024, two customers each comprised over 10% of the company’s total sales, aggregating approximately 22% of its total sales.
For the year ended December 31, 2024, Arch derived approximately 16% of its total coal revenues from sales to its three largest customers. Additionally, in 2024, Arch sold coal to domestic customers located in 25 different states as the location of its mines enabled it to ship coal to most of the major coal-fueled power plants in the United States and exported coal to Europe, Asia, Central and South America, and Africa.
Distribution
Coal is transported from the company’s mining operations to customers predominantly by railroad cars, vessels or a combination of these means of transportation.
Laws and Regulations
Environmental Laws
The federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and corresponding state and local laws and regulations affect multiple aspects of the company’s business, both directly and indirectly.
The federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and corresponding state laws affect the company’s coal and export terminal operations by regulating discharges into certain waters. Additionally, the company must obtain the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits from the appropriate state or federal permitting authority under Section 402 of the CWA.
The company’s active operations are located in states that have primary jurisdiction for enforcement of the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), with oversight from OSM. Under federal and state laws, including SMCRA, it is required to obtain surety bonds or other acceptable security to secure payment of the company’s long-term obligations, including mine closure and reclamation, mine water treatment, federal and state workers’ compensation costs, coal leases or other miscellaneous obligations.
The federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and other related federal and state statutes protect species that have been classified as endangered or threatened with possible extinction, or other protective designations. A number of species native to the company’s operating areas are protected under the ESA or other related laws and regulations.
The company is required to comply with other state, federal and local environmental laws in addition to those discussed above. These laws include, for example, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, the Toxic Release Inventory, and the rules governing the use and storage of explosives regulated by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the Department of Homeland Security.
History
Core Natural Resources, Inc. was founded in 1864. The company was incorporated in Delaware in 2017.