January 16, 2019 - U.S. western coal production totaled over 17.4 million st in the fourth quarter of 2018, up 7.6% from the third quarter and up 3.6% from the year-ago quarter, Mine Safety and Health Administration data showed.

This was the highest quarterly production for the region, which includes Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah along with mines in Montana and Wyoming, since Q4 in 2015.

Production for the year totaled 63.3 million st, down 2.1% from 2017 production of 64.63 million st given weaker production levels in the first half of 2018.

Signal Peak's Bull Mountains mine in Montana was the top producer in both the fourth quarter and for the year. The mine produced 2.2 million st in Q4, up 44.2% from the prior quarter and 22.3% from the year-ago quarter. Throughout 2018 the mine produced 7.6 million st, up 28.6% from 2017.

Peabody's Kayenta mine in Arizona came in second for both the quarter and the year, producing 1.6 million st in Q4, down 6.3% from Q3, and 6.6 million st for the year. Compared with Q4 2017, production dropped 10.3%; although annual production rose 28.6% in 2018.

Peabody's El Segundo mine in New Mexico had the third highest production for the quarter and year. Quarterly production totaled 1.5 million st, up 5.9% from Q3 and up 18.7% from the year-ago quarter. Annual production totaled over 5.5 million st, up 14.2% from 2017.

Utah American Energy's Lila Canyon mine in Utah had the largest quarter on quarter rise, up 139.2% in Q4. Production for the quarter totaled 773,613 st, while the mine produced over 2.6 million st for the year, up 61.5% from the 2017 production.

Bowie No. 2 mine, operated by Wolverine Fuels, had the largest production increase on an annual basis, up 241.7% with 2018 production of 441,876 st.

On a state-by-state basis, Colorado led in production levels.

Colorado produced over 3.3 million st in Q4 and 14 million st for the year. From Q3 production in the most recent quarter fell 7.8% and from the year-ago quarter production fell 10.7%. Annual production also dropped 6.8% from 2017 production.

Arch Coal's West Elk mine was the top producer in Q4 and in 2018. In Q4 the mine produced over 1 million st, down 21% from the prior quarter and down 17.4% from the year-ago quarter. In 2018 production totaled 4.7 million st, down 3% from 2017 production.

New Mexico production had the second largest production for Q4 and the third largest on an annual basis. In Q4, production totaled nearly 4 million st, up 30.8% from Q3 and up 44.1% from the year-ago quarter. Production for the year totaled 10.8 million st, down 18.2% from 2017. The top producing mine in the state was El Segundo.

Utah quarterly production was the fourth highest, but the state had the third highest production for 2018. Yearly production totaled 13.6 million st, down 5.1% from 2017 and Q4 production totaled 3.4 million st, down 1.3% from Q3 and down 16.8% from the year-ago production.

Sufco mine, with 1.4 million st in production in Q4 and 4.9 million st for the year, was the state's top producer.

Montana and Arizona came in fifth and sixth with only the Bull Mountain and Kayenta mines, respectively.