Peabody Energy today announced the completion of its acquisition of Macarthur Coal Limited, and has notified the Australian Securities Exchange to delist Macarthur.
Peabody is the world's largest private-sector coal company, with 28 surface and underground mines across the United States and Australia.
"The Macarthur purchase advances Peabody's strategy of expanding our global platform to serve major global demand centers and raising our contribution from higher-margin international assets," said Peabody chairman and chief executive officer Gregory H. Boyce.
"Our focus now is on driving integration and operations improvement and completing expansion projects."
Macarthur has a number of mine development and infrastructure projects under way in addition to its existing Coppabella and Moorvale mines.
The Middlemount joint venture surface mine has recently completed the 16.5 kilometer rail spur linking the project to the Goonyella Rail System and has secured an additional mining lease to support expanded production capacity.
In addition, the Queensland Government has just announced the completion of the Goonyella to Abbot Point Expansion rail project. The line links the Goonyella and Newlands rail systems, increasing the capacity of Queensland's coal exports through the Abbot Point Coal Terminal and improving efficiency and flexibility of coal exports.
Macarthur Coal has agreements to access the line to export coal produced from the Middlemount Coal project in 2012 through Abbot Point.
Peabody continues to pursue infrastructure options to support its growth platform. In December, Peabody and its affiliates secured preferred respondent status for potential access to nearly 20 million tons of annual capacity in the Abbot Point Coal Terminal expansion as part of a consortium. Discussions to evaluate commercial terms and development plans with the North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation are under way.
