“I am pleased with the production reports of the last four days of mining at our Gwenco mining property,” company president Eugene Chiaramonte Jr said of the unit, which is working in tandem with the mine’s established Joy 14-10 miner.

“Even though we still have a few obstacles to overcome, we are now producing 800 to 1000 raw tons per shift, and in the next couple of weeks we expect to reach our goal of 1300 to 1500 tons per shift as the height of the coal seam increases according to our core hole report indications.

“We also expect to have our third shuttle car underground this week, which will also increase production efficiency.”

Quest announced the addition of the new machines to its fleet early this month, with Chiaramonte Jr noting that the two miners working in cycle would allow for less downtime.

“While one machine sets up for a heading change, the other miner continues on with coal production,” the company said.

The company recently acquired two shuttlecars which will provide more efficient production transport.

Officials commented earlier this month that Quest was already seeing increased demand for its metallurgical compatible-grade product along with the upswing in coal prices, and the new equipment would help it stay competitive in the market.

Quest began renovation work on the Cedar Grove and Pond Creek operations in 2008. Whitestar has been retained as the contract miner for the operations.

Last month, Quest secured a coal contract for subsidiary Gwenco. The customer was a large coal production and distribution company, and Quest said coal orders would be placed “for the foreseeable future”