Western bituminous coal production totaled 16.8 million st in the fourth quarter, up 12.7% from the prior quarter and up 1.8% from the year-ago quarter, according to recent data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
It was the highest quarterly total since Q4 of 2015, largely as a result of increased exports.
Through November of this year, bituminous coal exports from the Western US Census districts of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle are up 239% compared with the same period last year.
For the full year, coal production from the Western bit states, which includes Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Montana and Wyoming, totaled 63.4 million st in 2017, up 3.9% from 2016.
In Q4, the basin's most productive mine was the Bull Mountains mine, owned by Signal Peak Energy, in Montana, which produced 1.79 million st, up 37.5% from last year. On a full-year basis, production from the mine totaled 5,883,820 st, up 4.9% from 2016.
The basin's second most productive mine in Q4 was Bowie Resource Partners' Sufco mine in Utah, which produced 1.65 million st, up 23.1% from the year-ago quarter, while full-year production totaled a basin high 5,883,975 st in 2017, up 9.5% from last year.
On a full-year basis, the basin's next three most productive mines were Westmoreland Coal's San Juan mine in New Mexico, at 5.33 million st; Peabody Energy's Kayenta mine in Arizona, at 5.18 million st; and Peabody's El Segundo mine in New Mexico, at 4.86 million st.
Arch Coal's West Elk mine in Colorado, which also exports, had full-year 2017 production of 4.82 million st, up 16% from 2016.
The basin's biggest producer in Q4 was Peabody, at 3.9 million st, up 31.5% from the year-ago quarter, and 12.69 million st for the full year, down 1.7% from 2016.
The second largest producer in Q4 was Bowie, at 2.99 million st, up 6.6% from the year-ago quarter, while full-year production totaled 10.88 million st, up 2.4% from 2016.
