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NEWS-THIS MONTH IN COAL Heavy Rains Slam Australia's Queensland Coal Mines global coal prices," said CEO Gregory Boyce. Peabody is targeting sales of 230 million to 250 million tons for the year, compared with 248 million tons in 2012. Cerrejon Workers Strike in Colombia Queensland Premier Campbell Newman was in Gladstone to discuss to recent floods in the Gladstone Region. (Photo courtesy David Sparkes/The Observer David Sparkes) Heavy rains are again disrupting coal mining in Queensland, West Australia, though effects are believed to be far less severe than the 2011 devastation that brought much of its production to a standstill. BHP Billiton, the biggest player, has lost production from coking mines in its Bowen Basin after roads and other infrastructure were hit. Meanwhile, the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance joint venture—the world's biggest seaborne coking shipper—has received major rains in places previously deemed unaffected; a full survey is under way. Anglo American, Australia's secondlargest coking coal producer and the Chinese majority-owned Yancoal have also closed mines. Yancoal's Middlemount open cut mine, jointly owned with Peabody Energy, has also been shuttered temporarily after a levee breach. Similarly, Aurizon said parts of its network were closed. Ship loading at the Port of Gladstone and Hay Point—the world's biggest harbor for metallurgical coal—was also temporarily suspended but is now restored. Alliance Prospers Despite Domestic Challenges Alliance Resource Partners, a U.S. steam coal operator, continued to set production records for a 12th consecutive year in 2012, with 34.8 million tons of coal, amid a challenging period for the U.S. industry. 24 E&MJ; • FEBRUARY 2013 This year witnessed a 13.2% increase from 2011, while surpassing $2 billion in total revenue for the first time. Net income fell to $335.6 million from $389.4 million, however, owing to startup and infrastructure costs at operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Western Kentucky. Alliance CEO Joseph Craft hailed the performance as "truly remarkable considering the challenges in 2012," pointing to low natural gas prices, a mild winter and fastevolving Environmental Protection Agency regulations targeting the sector. Peabody Energy Posts Major Loss Peabody Energy, the world's largest private sector coal producer, reported a $1 billion Q4 loss and warned of a Q1 loss, adding that lower costs and a metallurgical coal price comeback could enhance 2013 growth. Company officials have forecast an increase of up to 60 million tons in U.S. coal demand, with higher natural gas prices prompting utilities to revert to coal. Thermal coal, however, remains weak with Peabody officials expecting U.S. demand to fall 5% to 10% from 2012 levels. For 2013, met coal prices, on the other hand, are set to make a comeback in the wake of China's buoyant steel prices. "Recent data suggests China's growth is again accelerating, and we have seen some rebound in Following a series of talks workers at Colombia's biggest coal exporter, a joint venture between BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Xstrata, are striking over wages, union officials have announced. The Cerrejon impasse is just the latest problem for the world's fourth-largest coal exporter whose extractive companies have been plagued by increased rebel attacks and labor unrest in recent years. The strike, with near total union support, will not mean immediate stoppage, however. Under Colombian law, workers cannot walkout the day after the vote. The union is seeks a 7% annual wage increase; Cerrejon has offered 5%. Cerrejon produced 34.6 million metric tons (mt) of coal last year, 4% more than expected and exported 32.8 million mt, 2.5% above its goal. Indonesia's Bakrie Family to Quit Bumi for $580 Million Indonesia coal producer Bumi plc said the influential Bakrie family, which has been locked in a battle with London financier Nat Rothschild over control since the company's 2010 founding, will exit based on a $578 million proposal. "The negotiations have gone well, I'm confident they will come up with the funding," Bumi CEO Nick von Schirnding told reporters; Bumi was valued at $3 billion when the deal was signed in 2010; it's now worth $1.3 billion. The company would sell its 29% stake in Indonesia's largest coal miner, PT Bumi Resources Tbk, to the Bakries in exchange for leaving its 24% stake in Bumi and $278 million. Under the cash proposal, Bumi would retain 85% ownership of Indonesia's fifthlargest coal miner, PT Berau Coal Energy. Bumi united Rothschild, scion of a centuries-old British banking dynasty, and the Bakries, a palm oil-to-property empire with roots in early 1940s Sumatra. Falling stocks and coal prices have accompanied a heated battle underscoring challenging foreign resource deals and Indonesia's investment climate. www.e-mj.com