Located in Kanawha County, West Virginia, the Mammoth assets were recently acquired at the Horizon Natural Resources Company bankruptcy court auction and were formerly operated as part of Cannelton Industries.

"We are excited about the potential for low cost production from this mine, where we expect underground coal seams to average seven to nine feet and where the company's barge loading facility will offer direct access to river transportation," Massey chief Don Blankenship said.

Blankenship said Mammoth was contiguous to Massey’s undeveloped Kanawha Energy property, which contains an estimated 50 million tons of coal reserves.

Mammoth start-up capital is expected to be less than US$5 million.

Previous projections made by Massey of 46-48 million tons of production in 2005, and capital spending of $330 million for 2004 and $275 million for 2005, did not include Mammoth Coal Company.

Massey Energy Company, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is the fourth largest coal company in the United States based on produced coal revenue.