Houston—Northern Appalachia coal production in the first quarter jumped to 24.31 million st, up 15.3% from 21.09 million st in Q4 and 12.1% from 21.7 million st produced in the year-ago quarter, US Mines Safety and Health Administration data showed May 5.
But the latest quarter was down 4.7% from the five-year average for the corresponding quarter.Roughly 98% of the production, or 23.83 million st, was bituminous coal, while the remaining 487,656 st was anthracite. In Q4, bituminous coal made up 97.4%, and anthracite production was 555,989 st, while in Q1 2020, bituminous output was at 96.9%, and the remaining 662,113 st was anthracite.
Underground mine production was at 22.77 million st in Q1, up from 19.59 million st in Q4 and 19.77 million st in the year-ago quarter.
Consol Energy's Bailey underground mine in Greene County, Pennsylvania, was the largest mine in the region, with Q1 output totaling 3.78 million st, up from 3.05 million st in Q4 and 2.8 million st in the year-ago quarter.
After the Bailey mine was American Consolidated Natural Resources' (formerly Murray Energy) Marshall County underground mine in West Virginia, which produced 2.78 million st in Q1, up from 2.15 million st in Q4 and 2.16 million st in Q1 2020.
Rounding out the top three was Consol's Enlow Fork mine, which produced 2 million st, up from 1.64 million st in Q4, but down from 2.37 million st in the year-ago quarter.
Of the top 20 producing mines, 16 saw quarterly increases in Q1, with Bailey and Marshall County seeing the largest increases.
Just seven of the top 20 mines saw a year-on-year decrease, but Enlow Fork was the only one of the top 10 mines with a decline.
ACNR remains the largest NAPP coal producerSix companies—ACNR, Consol, Alliance, Iron Senergy, Arch Resources, and Rosebud Mining—each produced more than 1 million st of coal in Q1 and combined to produce 22.17 million st, up from 19.15 million st in Q4 and 18.86 million st in the year-ago quarter.
ACNR, the largest underground miner in the US, produced 8.6 million st in Q1, up from 7.1 million st in Q4 and 6.76 million st in the year-ago quarter. The company's six mines each ranked in the top 12 NAPP mines in Q1.
Consol produced a quarterly record 7.02 million st of NAPP coal in Q1, up from 5.88 million st in Q4 and 5.97 million st in the year-ago quarter.
Surface production in Northern Appalachia was at 1.54 million st in Q1, up from 1.5 million st in Q4, but down from 1.93 million st in the year-ago quarter.
Robindale Energy was the largest surface mine producer in the region, with output of 190,505 st in Q1, up from 179,050 st in Q4, but down from 200,847 st a year ago.
