The property, for which the Vancouver-based company has signed a letter of intent, includes “substantial” in situ coal assets, though no specific figures were disclosed.

The financial terms of the deal are also being kept under wraps.

Long Harbour said that the operation, which extracts from the rich Whitesburg and Elkhorn seams, has realized recent historical production of about 25,000 tons monthly.

Included in that total is coal sold to the pulverized coal injection market in the US.

The Kentucky property, which is permitted for surface mining with underground mining planned to increase production, is near a 92-railcar capacity loadout facility that supports access to the Asian metallurgical coal market.

“The company plans to increase production following the acquisition and to focus on the international markets that place great demand on high quality coal,” officials said.

Long Harbour did not provide a projected close date for the transaction, which is subject to Toronto Stock Exchange Venture Exchange approval.

“We are fortunate to have an opportunity that may allow us to leverage our management and board's rich experience in the coal and shipping sectors with deep Asian networks,” chief executive officer Peter Espig said.

“Arbitrages exist with regards to consolidating coal from smaller producers and the US versus Asian market demand for metallurgical coal to which these assets could play a vital role.”

Espig added that because the mine was permitted and was already online, it had significantly mitigated start-up timing and capital expenditure exposure.

“Operations are expected to be simplified because, rather than assuming full mining responsibilities, we expect to enter into a mining contract which will allow us to leverage Pyramid's local mining expertise,” he said.