Warrior Met Coal, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, is a U.S.-based, environmentally and socially minded supplier to the global steel industry.
The company is dedicated entirely to mining non-thermal steelmaking coal used as a critical component of steel production by metal manufacturers in Europe, South America and Asia. The company is a large-scale producer and exporter of premium quality met or steelmaking coal, also known as hard coking coal (‘HCC’), operating highly efficient longwall...
Warrior Met Coal, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, is a U.S.-based, environmentally and socially minded supplier to the global steel industry.
The company is dedicated entirely to mining non-thermal steelmaking coal used as a critical component of steel production by metal manufacturers in Europe, South America and Asia. The company is a large-scale producer and exporter of premium quality met or steelmaking coal, also known as hard coking coal (‘HCC’), operating highly efficient longwall operations in the company’s underground mines based in Alabama, Mine No. 4 and Mine No. 7. The company’s steelmaking coal production totaled 7.5 million metric tons in 2024. The company’s natural gas operations remove and sell natural gas from its owned and leased coal seams by reducing natural gas levels in the company’s mines.
Substantially all of the company’s revenue is derived from the sale of premium steelmaking coal in the global seaborne markets. The company’s resources are primarily allocated to the mining, transportation and marketing of steelmaking coal.
Business Strategies
The company’s key strategies are to maximize organic growth and profitability; broaden the company’s marketing reach and maintain strong correlation between realized coal prices and the S&P Platts Index; and capitalize on opportunities for technological innovation to continue to reduce the company’s impact on the environment.
Business
The company’s underground mining operations and the company’s Blue Creek growth project are headquartered in Brookwood, Alabama. Operating at approximately 2,000 feet below the surface, Mines No. 4 and No. 7 are two of the deepest underground coal mines in North America. The steelmaking coal is mined using longwall extraction technology with development support from continuous miners.
The company’s two operating mines and Blue Creek are located approximately 300 miles from the company’s export terminal at the Port of Mobile in Alabama, the shortest mine-to-port distance of any U.S.-based steelmaking coal producer. The company’s flexible and efficient rail and barge network underpins its dependable access to the seaborne markets. The company sells its coal to a diversified customer base of blast furnace steel producers, primarily located in Asia, Europe and South America. The company has a shipping time and distance advantage serving its customers throughout the Atlantic Basin relative to competitors located in Australia and Western Canada.
The company’s HCC, mined from the Southern Appalachian region of the United States, is characterized by low-to-high volatile matter (‘VM’) and high coke strength after reaction (‘CSR’). These qualities make the company’s coal ideally suited as a coking coal for the manufacture of steel. The company’s Mine No. 4 steelmaking coal is a High Vol A quality coal that typically trades at a larger discount to the price of Mine No. 7 coal. The company primarily targets the East Coast High Vol A indices price for the company’s Mine No. 4 coal. The company’s Blue Creek mine steelmaking coal is also a High Vol A quality coal. In contrast, coal produced in the Central Appalachian region of the United States is typically characterized by medium-to-high VM and a CSR that is below the requirements of the Australian Index price.
The company has 82.4 million metric tons of recoverable reserves at Mines No. 4 and No. 7. Mines No. 4 and No. 7 are located near Brookwood, Alabama, and are serviced by CSX railroad. A coal producer is typically responsible for transporting the coal from the mine to an export coal-loading facility. Exported coal is usually sold at the loading port, with the buyer responsible for further transportation from the port to their location. Both mines also have access to the company’s barge load-out facility on the Black Warrior River. Service via both rail and barge culminates in delivery to the Port of Mobile in Alabama, where shipments are exported to the company’s international customers via ocean vessels. Substantially all of the company’s steelmaking coal sales consist of sales to international customers. The company also has alternative outbound logistics routes to increase transportation and vessel shipping optionality.
Coal Preparation and Blending
The company’s steelmaking coal mines have preparation and blending facilities convenient to each mine. The steelmaking coal preparation and blending facilities receive, blend, process and ship steelmaking coal that is produced from the mines. Using these facilities, the company is able to ensure a consistent quality and efficiently blend the company’s steelmaking coal to meet the company’s customers’ specifications.
Marketing, Sales and Customers
The company’s operations’ high-quality steelmaking coal is considered among the highest quality steelmaking coals in the world and is preferred as a base steelmaking coal in the company’s customers’ blends. The company’s marketing strategy is to focus on international markets mostly in Europe and South America where the company has a shipping time and distance advantage. In recent years, due to a combination of market dynamics and geopolitical events, the company has expanded the marketing of its coal to Asia and the company is actively marketing its coal to buyers in India and Southeast Asia.
The company focuses on long-term customer relationships where the company has a competitive advantage. The company typically sells its steelmaking coal under fixed supply contracts primarily with indexed pricing terms and volume terms of one to three years.
Environmental
The company works with regulatory bodies, including the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (‘ADEM’), the Alabama Surface Mining Commission (‘ASMC’), the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (‘OSMRE’), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (‘USFWS’), to meet or exceed all environmental requirements.
The company is evaluating recently issued final regulations on clean hydrogen production and carbon sequestration tax credits offered under Internal Revenue Code Sections 45Q and 45V as amended and introduced by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Environmental and Regulatory Matters
Certain of the company’s subsidiaries are responsible for medical and disability benefits for black lung disease under the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, the Mine Act and the Black Lung Benefits Revenue Act of 1977 and the Black Lung Benefits Reform Act of 1977, each as amended (together, the ‘Black Lung Benefits Act’), and are insured under a guaranteed cost insurance policy beginning on April 1, 2016 through May 31, 2018 for black lung and workers compensation related claims of any of the company’s employees.
The Clean Air Act indirectly affects the company’s mining operations by extensively regulating the air emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, ozone and other compounds emitted by steel manufacturers, coke ovens and coal-fired utilities.
The federal Clean Water Act (‘CWA’) and corresponding state and local laws and regulations affect the company’s operations by restricting the discharge of pollutants, including dredged and fill materials, into waters of the United States. The company’s mining operations maintain water discharge permits as required under the NPDES program of the CWA.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (‘RCRA’) and corresponding state laws establish standards for the management of solid and hazardous wastes generated at the company’s various facilities.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (‘CERCLA’) and similar state laws affect the company’s steelmaking coal mining operations by, among other things, imposing investigation and cleanup requirements for threatened or actual releases of hazardous substances.
History
Warrior Met Coal, Inc. was founded in 2015. The company was incorporated in 2015.