Attendance records broke through the expected 34,000 person mark and reached 41,000 on the show’s first day, Monday.

This exceeded the total number of visitors at the 2004 show by a third.

MINExpo is hosted by US trade group the National Mining Association which put the boosted attendance down to record global demand for coal and minerals.

Mining executives expressed confidence in the current cycle of demand, saying they expected to see continued growth in the demand for coal, minerals and mining equipment.

Equipment supplier Bucyrus chief executive and MINExpo chairman Tim Sullivan said his company’s products and services “continue to be driven by high international commodity prices and strong markets for commodities mined by Bucyrus machines.”

US coal producers expect the strong coal growth to continue in 2009 for metallurgical and thermal coal.

“This is not a short-term market cycle,” coal company Alpha Natural Resources chairman Mike Quillen said.

Coal has been a fast growing fuel and it is expected to provide 44% of the world’s electricity by 2015, up from 41% in 2005.

MINExpo has also seen eight US coal companies awarded for their land reclamation and environmental work.

The US Office of Surface Mining presented eight coal operations in West Virginia, Wyoming, Texas and Indiana with environment awards at a MINExpo lunch on Tuesday.

The category award winners are as follows:

• Director’s Award

  Luminant Mining Company, LLC (formerly TXU)

  Big Brown Mine; Martin Lake Mine; Monticello Mine; Oak Hill Mine and Thermo Mine; Dallas Texas.

• National Awards

  ICG Eastern, LCC Birch River Complex; Webster Country, W.Va.

  Rio Tinto Energy America; Jacobs Ranch Mine, Wright, Wyo

  Black Beauty Coal Company, Peabody Energy Corporation; Miller Creek Mine; Clay County, Ind.

  Road Fork Development; Superior Surface Mines; Logan County,W.Va

• Good Neighbour Awards

  Thunder Basin Coal Company, LLC – Arch Coal; Black Thunder and North Rochelle Mine.

  Rio Tinto Energy America; Antelope Mine; Cordero Rojo Mine; Jacobs Ranch Mine

  Coal-Mac, Arch Coal; Mingo and Logan Counties, W.Va