"Peabody is the only global pure play coal investment and a global leader in clean coal solutions," chairman and chief executive officer Gregory Boyce said.
"We added more than $US5 billion in shareholder value this past year and remain focused on serving the world's largest and fastest-growing markets."
Peabody’s safety performance in 2010 hit a new global low of 2.69 incidents per 200,000 hours worked and included a new Australian safety record.
The producer’s US incidence rate runs at about half the industry average, and officials reported an improvement of 29% during the first quarter alone.
Boyce said the company had big plans for the remainder of 2011, with a large collection of key initiatives that include capturing value via its open sales position as coal prices continue to rise.
In Australia, it is working to expand six major metallurgical and thermal export operations. It is also advancing growth efforts and commercial deals in China, Mongolia, Indonesia and India.
In the US, Peabody intends to leverage its leadership in the export market as well as through primary production areas in the Powder River Basin and the Illinois Basin.
Boyce noted that over the next 25 years the world will need to add the equivalent of four times the generating capacity currently being met by the US. China, India and Indonesia are all playing a role in driving demand upward.
"These enormous needs point to the early stages of what will be a long-lived super-cycle for coal and energy," Boyce said.
"Billions around the world need sustainable solutions for energy access, and coal is the answer."
The company is also playing a role in the growth of near-zero emissions projects being advanced worldwide; more than 80 large-scale projects are currently under way.
Peabody is investing in more than a dozen green coal projects and partnerships in the US as well as China and Australia.
Peabody re-elects entire board
The Missouri producer also announced that it re-elected all 11 of its board directors at the recent annual meeting.
Re-elected directors included chairman and chief executive officer Gregory Boyce; former British Energy chief executive officer William Coley; RockPort Capital Partners co-founder and managing general partner William James; former Arthur Andersen managing partner Robert Karn III; former Royal Dutch Shell executive vice president M Frances Keeth; Lazard Freres managing director Henry Lentz; former BP America chairman and president Robert Malone; former Premcor president William Rusnack; former Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs US assistant secretary of state John Turner; BJC Healthcare group president Sandra Van Trease; and former Lehman Brothers managing director Alan Washkowitz.
