Illinois Basin coal production totaled 24.4 million st in the third quarter, down 7.5% from Q2 but up 2.5% from the year-ago quarter, according to US Mine Safety and Health Administration data.
The basin's most productive mine remains Foresight Energy's Sugar Camp complex, which produced 3.1 million st in Q3, down 9.7% from Q2 but up 8.6% from last year.
The basin's largest producer was Alliance Resources, which produced slightly more than 6 million st in the quarter, down 12% from Q2 and down 0.9% from last year.
Foresight produced 5.3 million st in Q3, down 6.4% from Q2 but up 11% from last year. Peabody Energy produced 4.6 million st in the quarter, up 2.8% from Q2 but down 0.4% from last year.
Murray Energy, previously a significant producer in the basin, saw production dip to 485,039 st in Q3, down 60.7% from Q2 and down 42.2% from the year-ago quarter. The drop comes as the company shut its New Era mine in recent years and has begun trimming production at the nearby New Future mine.
The basin's most efficient mine in terms of tons per hour worked was Foresight's Williamson mine, which produced 12.4 st/man hour.
Quarterly production in the basin peaked in Q1 2015 at 35.4 million st, but has largely been trending down as low natural gas prices and a weak export market dampened demand.
While exports have picked up this year, market sources indicate that Illinois Basin supply remains tight, with Northern Appalachia coal seeing the bigger uptick in export demand.
Within the last two years, IB production peaked at 27.8 million st in Q1 of this year, and dipped to 23.8 million st in Q3 of last year.
