Production at the Carbon County operation can now ramp up to more than 60,000 tons per month towards the end of the first quarter.
America West has been producing about 25,000tpm of compliant thermal coal over the last two years via a single section.
Based on the company's deployment strategy, the new miner should be operating at full capacity by the end of March. Once at the 60,000tpm production level, America West will become cashflow positive.
With a coal sales backlog necessitating production worth as much as $US200 million over the next five years, and up to $500 million over the next 10 years, the company says it has been putting several key initiatives into place to optimize its thermal coal assets.
"Demand for our compliant coal is at an all-time high, so it is crucial that we stay on plan to ensure that we are in a position to effectively address our customers' needs,” America West president and chief executive officer Dan Baker said.
He said that Horizon’s expansions over the next several months should allow for three sections to be simultaneously mined at the underground mine.
“In addition, we will strive to introduce a longwall mining system in late 2011 to significantly escalate our production levels to the point where we are safely extracting hundreds of thousands of tons of coal per month,” Baker said.
The producer is currently in discussions with funding sources and expects to have a comprehensive capital formation plan finalized by the second quarter of 2011.
