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Atlantic Coal plc / Index: AIM / Epic: ATC / Sector: Mining

18 February 2010

Atlantic Coal plc ('Atlantic' or 'the Company')

Termination of discussions with Maple Carpenter Creek

Atlantic Coal plc, the AIM listed open cast coal production and processing company with activities in Pennsylvania, USA, announces that talks re the potential acquisition of Maple Carpenter Creek, LLC ('MCC') have been terminated. The Company remains committed to identifying value accretive acquisitions, which will compliment the Company's Stockton Colliery in Pennsylvania, where the implementation of a new mine plan and the upgrade of machinery has raised production targets of high quality anthracite to 400,000 run of mine ('ROM') tons per annum.

On 7 December 2009, Atlantic announced that it had entered into a non-binding memorandum of terms ('Memorandum') to acquire the entire issued share capital of MCC (the 'Proposed Transaction'). In addition, Atlantic announced that it had agreed to make a working capital loan facility available to MCC of up to US$400,000 (the 'Loan').

On 17 February Atlantic received notification from the shareholders of MCC that they no longer wished to proceed with the Proposed Transaction on the basis set out in the Memorandum. This follows recent discussions between Atlantic and MCC pursuant to which alternative terms were proposed by both MCC and Atlantic. The board of Atlantic, having considered the last revised proposal from MCC, decided that such revisions could not be accepted. MCC were unwilling to revert to the original terms and consequently, the discussions have been terminated.

To date Atlantic has advanced $300,000 to MCC in accordance with the Loan. MCC have confirmed that this will be repaid in accordance with the terms of the Loan documentation.

Atlantic Coal Managing Director Steve Best said, "Our aim remains to build a significant coal production company, by acquiring synergistic high quality coal projects to complement our producing Stockton Colliery in Pennsylvania, and we continue to review other opportunities that fit our investment criteria. Naturally, we are disappointed that we were unable to progress the MCC acquisition, but know that it is vital that every deal provides enhanced shareholder value. Ramping up production at the Stockton Colliery is a key focus for us and in line with this, we purchased a $3.5m Liebherr R9250 21-yard bucket hydraulic excavator, scheduled to arrive next month, which should immediately increase production capacity."

**ENDS**

For further information on the Company, visit: www.atlanticcoal.com or contact: