88���ֳ�

The largest of the seven mines will be Panther, and rounding out the collection will be Remington, Dakota and Jupiter from ArcLight and Samples, Hobet 21 and the Arch of West Virginia site from Arch.

The mines had a collective production of about 21 million tons last year. Arch’s contribution, which includes three of the state’s six largest surface operations, produced nearly 12Mt of that.

“We are enthusiastic about Arch and ArcLight combining reserves and mining operations with strong geographical overlap to create a new company that we believe will be well positioned in Eastern coal markets,” said Arch president Steven Leer.

Arch would retain a 37.5% ownership stake in the new company, according to the announcement, and Leer said the transaction would “substantially reduce Arch’s legacy liabilities”

Arch Coal was established after Arch Mineral and Ashland Coal joined forced in a 1997 merger. Trout Coal Holdings was formed in 2001 by ArcLight and Cline Resource & Development.

Arch said about half of its production in the Central Appalachian region would be part of this new venture, and said in a statement that it was “retaining a sore group of reserves and assets in Central Appalachia”

The deal, which is in the regulatory approvals stage, must be approved before it can be finalised.

“We continue to regard Central Appalachia as a core operating region for Arch Coal, with excellent potential for future growth,” said Leer. “While we are contributing certain assets that represent a strong fit with the mines contributed by ArcLight, we are retaining operations that have significant marketing flexibility and future development potential.”

Heading up the new Trout Coal venture will be Paul Vining, who will become president and chief executive officer effective immediately. Vining, formerly the vice president of marketing and trading for Arch Coal, will replace retiring chief H Doug Dahl.

“Trout Coal has some of the best employees and assets in Central Appalachia. I believe it is a superb platform from which to continue growing and developing in the region.”