Coal production from the top 25 Northern Appalachia coal mines increased 8.5% during the recent period from the second quarter of 2018 and 7.5% from the first quarter of 2019.
The top 25 coal mines in the region produced 26.1 million tons in the quarter ended June 30, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Three of Murray Energy Corp.'s top four mines in the basin posted increases in output year over year in the second quarter. The company's Marshall County mine led the basin with 3.4 million tons of coal, about 14.2% more than in the year-ago period. The miner's Ohio County mine produced 2.1 million tons during the period, a 60.1% increase, while the Century mine's production ramped up by 134.5% to 1.5 million tons.
Consol Energy Inc.'s Bailey and Enlow Fork mines were the second- and third-best producers in the region during the period, respectively. Alongside the Harvey facility, those two mines make up the company's Pennsylvania Mining Complex, which saw a 500,000-ton decline in output from the same period a year ago, a drop largely driven by an additional longwall move and slower subsequent recovery, said Consol President and CEO James Brock on a recent earnings call. The complex produced 7.2 million tons during the period, which included a record-high quarterly production of 1.5 million tons from the Harvey mine.
The company reported that the average cash cost per ton sold increased from $26.99 a year ago to $31.07 during the recent period. But Consol expects its cost will improve in the second half of the year.
"This transitional increase in the cash cost of coal sold was primarily driven by additional equipment rebuilds and longwall overhauls due to the timing of longwall moves and panel development," Brock said. "We also saw a slight increase in maintenance and supply cost as a result of the slower start-up after the longwall move."
Brock also said that Consol plans to export about 56% of its 2019 exports to India and expects to increase its crossover metallurgical coal and Indian shipments by double-digit percentages each.
"Both of these should continue to be growth paths for the Pennsylvania Mining Complex coal business for 2020 and into the future," he said. "Specifically, on the seaborne thermal coal front, we continue to believe that India will drive growth in seaborne thermal coal demand and that's where we're focusing our efforts."
Contura Energy Inc.'s Cumberland coal mine produced nearly 2 million tons of coal during the period, a 31.8% increase from the same period of 2018. Contura Executive Vice President and CFO Andy Eidson said on an earnings call that the company's productivity and performance in the basin improved.
"There were no longwall moves during the quarter, so that helped Cumberland achieve a very strong three-month period," he said. "We do expect third-quarter NAPP costs to be impacted by a longwall move in September."

Arch Coal Inc.'s Leer and Sentinel mines also saw double-digit output improvements of 16.9% and 15.8%, respectively. Arch President and COO Paul Lang said on a July call that the Leer mine had "another outstanding performance," and he expects that a geological transition in the operation will allow it to maintain and even improve on its performance going forward.
"Even with the longwall move, the mine continued to achieve high productivity levels and exceptionally low cash costs," Lang said. "Later this year, Leer will transition into the heart of its reserve base where the average seam thickness will increase about 12 inches, going from approximately five feet to approximately six feet."
Arch has also made progress on developing its Leer South longwall mine, which is "effectively a carbon copy of the Leer mine," he said. While the company had previously projected that the operation would start up in the fourth quarter of 2021, it shifted that expectation to the third quarter of 2021 as a result of its development pace.
"To keep this in perspective, even at today's prices, every month the longwall operation is accelerated, it should deliver in excess of $14 million to $16 million of additional EBITDA," Lang said. "Obviously, we remain sharply focused on getting the longwall in operation as quickly as possible and will be looking for every opportunity to accelerate the development work still further."
