Company president and chief operating officer John Eaves said the new location would allow Arch to take advantage of its strong existing talent while deepening its bench in key areas.

“We are continuing to build out our international marketing expertise in order to capitalize on the rapid growth occurring in the global marketplace,” he said.

On the personnel front, Arch announced Matt Ferguson would join the company on February 1 as the senior vice president for sales. He will report to marketing and trading senior vice president David Warnecke.

Ferguson will oversee metallurgical and thermal sales to the European and South American markets, as well as domestic metallurgical sales, trading and commercial logistics.

Before joining Arch, Ferguson was with BHP Billiton for nine years, five of which were spent as general manager of marketing.

Among his responsibilities was the marketing of coal from the company’s global equity production portfolio in the US, Australia, Indonesia and South Africa.

Arch said Jennifer Johnson would continue as senior vice president for sales, managing all domestic thermal coal sales.

Most recently responsible for Powder River Basin coal sales and trading, Johnson joined the company in 2006. She will continue reporting to Warnecke.

In May, Arch Coal – a top-five global coal producer and marketer – announced the opening of a subsidiary in Singapore.

The branch will operate under the name Arch Coal Asia-Pacific and be led by unit president Renato Paladino, who will report to Eaves.