LONDON (Alliance News) - Atlantic Coal PLC Friday said it has opened its new rail loading facility at its Stockton mine in the US which will allow it to ship more coal at lower prices.
Atlantic Coal shares were up 16.7% to 0.105 pence per share on Friday morning, the second biggest gainer on AIM.
In partnership with Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad, Atlantic Coal has constructed a new rail loading facility at the eastern end of its Stockton mining property, which became operational on Tuesday after it shipped anthracite coal to a steel industry customer in Indiana and a sugar processing company in Idaho.
The main benefit of the new railroad is that the railcars have a capacity of 100.0 tonnes of coal, compared with the previously used road trucks which only had a capacity of 20.0 tonnes. Atlantic Coal also benefits from no longer having to use third-party rail loading facilities. In turn, the new railroad has lowered transportation and loading costs.
"Our new rail loading facility became operational in only two months, an excellent achievement by our Stockton workforce," said Managing Director Steve Best.
"This facility now provides us with a significant commercial advantage in supplying our increased production of anthracite to customers across the US and potentially to Canada and to East Coast ports for export," he added.
The Stockton mine is in Pennsylvania and lies in the same region as New York and Philadelphia.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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