Presenting at the FBR Investor conference Blankenship said the company was considering acquiring other companies or carrying out mergers to increase the value of its shares and lower its cost base.

Massey has hired Goldman Sachs to look at ways to increase shareholder value in an attempt to increase its lagging share price. Blankenship said the bank was currently looking at several options – including analysis of whether the company is currently mining its lowest-cost reserves.

Massey holds 19 coal operations in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southern Virginia and reserves of about 2.2 billion tons.

That massive reserve base is something Blankenship said he wanted to keep in one piece. He said the reserves kept mining costs down and gave the company the option to switch to other reserves if it encountered poor geological conditions.

On Thursday Blankenship presented at the Bear Stearns Commodities & Capital Goods Conference in New York. There he spoke on the cost squeeze for producers in Central Appalachia.

“A couple of significant players could get in trouble and be available for M&A [mergers and acquisitions]," he said.

While prices are expected to rise marginally this year, they will not hit the peaks of a few years ago where many smaller players entered the Central Appalachian coal fields. It is these producers that Blankenship said will be eyed off for M&As.