By Zennie Abraham  

November 4, 2019 - While it’s true that there are a number of coal mining firms that are having difficulty, it’s also obvious now, that there’s a kind of mainstream media plot to make everyone think that each and every coal firm and coal industry affiliated company in America is in bankruptcy. From Murray Energy to Insight Terminal Solutions, examples of media mis-truths abound. In fact, that’s why Insight Terminal Solutions commissioned Zennie62Media: to tell the truth about the coal industry and the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal.

CNN’s Matt Egan wrote “The bankruptcy of Murray Energy puts an exclamation point on the stunning downfall of America’s coal industry. Despite President Donald Trump’s promise to revive coal country, the shift toward natural gas and renewable energy has only accelerated.” That would seem to indicate that CNN is trying to drum up bad news for President Trump, not tell the truth about Warrior Met Coal or the state of the coal industry.

(In fact, that’s true. While Trump hasn’t moved to call for a true, classic, economic development assistance plan for the coal industry, Democrats haven’t advanced any plan that doesn’t include making people jobless in the name of climate change. The answer – a package of subsidies aimed at pension, health care, and labor cost and unemployment aide, coupled with paying for the application of new low-emissions production technology, would work. That we as a United States of America don’t do that opens the door to another issue not focused on here.)

A search for “cnn.com coal”in Google search reveals listing after listing of articles focused on Murray Energy and to an alarming rate. Clearly, as James O’Keefe has revealed in his expose on CNN, the fix is in. One look at the press releases from Warrior Met Coal reveals that.

What Is Warrior Met Coal of Alabama?

What is Warrior Met Coal? Warrior Met Coal, according to its media release, is “a large-scale, low-cost, U.S.-based producer and exporter of premium HCC, operating highly efficient longwall operations in its underground mines located in Alabama. The HCC that Warrior produces from the Blue Creek coal seam contains very low sulfur and has strong coking properties and is of a similar quality to coal referred to as the premium HCC produced in Australia. The premium nature of Warrior’s HCC makes it ideally suited as a base feed coal for steel makers and results in price realizations near the Platts Index price. Warrior sells all its met coal production to steel producers in Europe, South America and Asia. For more information about Warrior, please visit www.warriormetcoal.com.”

It’s news for the year has been fiscally positive, and in October, Warrior Met Coal reported this:

    Oct 18, 2019

    BROOKWOOD, Ala.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Warrior Met Coal, Inc. (NYSE:HCC) (“Warrior” or the “Company”) today announced its board of directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per share to be paid on November 4, 2019, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on October 28, 2019.

Warrior Met Coal has issued a quarterly cash dividend each quarter this year. That’s a fact that has gone unreported in the media save for press releases on wire services. And here’s more good news about Warrior Met Coal:

    Warrior is the leading dedicated U.S. based producer and exporter of high quality metallurgical (“met”) coal for the global steel industry.

    Warrior reported third quarter 2019 net income of $45.0 million, or $0.87 per diluted share, compared to net income of $52.6 million, or $1.00 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2018. Adjusted net income per share for the third quarter of 2019 was $0.79 per diluted share compared to $1.06 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2018. The Company reported Adjusted EBITDA of $82.7 million in the third quarter of 2019, compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $94.1 million in the third quarter of 2018.

    “We are pleased with our performance this quarter, even in the face of challenging market conditions impacting revenue and EBITDA,” commented Walt Scheller, CEO of Warrior. “Even with the seasonal steel slowdown in the third quarter, as well as additional macro issues in the global economy significantly impacting pricing we were still able to execute another quarter of strong sales volume along with a significant increase in production volume. Further, we were able to complete two longwall moves during this quarter, which gives us confidence in reiterating our full year sales and production guidance. Warrior continues to have exceptional production, cost, and balance sheet flexibility to thrive in a range of market conditions.”

    Operating Results

    The Company produced 2.2 million short tons of met coal in the third quarter of 2019, 19.0% more than the amount produced in the third quarter of 2018. Sales volume in the third quarter of 2019 was 2.0 million short tons, a 19.3% increase over the amount sold in the third quarter of 2018.

The American Coal Industry does have its share of problems, but overall, the story is one of transition, not complete collapse. There are more Warrior Met Coal companies out there. And new coal mine facilities are being built around the World, like the UK.