According to its Annual Coal Report 2008, for which the agency has released some coal numbers ahead of the publishing of its final report later this year, 58% of last year’s production came from the western coalfields while 42% of output was from eastern US mines.
The number of producing operations in 2008 was also on an upward trend, rising 6% to 1458 versus 1374 in 2007. The states reporting the largest number of active operations were Kentucky with 469, West Virginia with 301 and 266 in Pennsylvania.
Looking solely at underground production, US mines last year produced 174.6 million tons via continuous mining methods and 179.2Mt using longwall extraction for a total of just over 357Mt.
Appalachia was the clear leader by region with 232.5Mt, followed by the Illinois Basin with 65.1Mt and the western coalfields with 59.4Mt.
Despite a fall in the market as the year came to a close, the EIA reported a 21% jump in prices for 2008 as a whole.
The average sales price per ton overall was $US31.26, while the average prices for continuous mining operations and longwalls were $56.95/t and $45.92/t respectively.
Estimates on remaining US reserves remain solid, with the agency reporting that the nation has 261Bt of recoverable reserves remaining, or about 235 years based on the current annual consumption rate of 1.1Bt.
Wyoming contains more than 7Bt, while West Virginia has more than 1.9Bt remaining.
The US is the top global reserve holder, with 27% of the world’s reserve base.
