The company said Thursday that 1.1Mt of the output will come from its National Coal of Alabama division and the balance, of 1.4Mt, will be extracted from its Kentucky and Tennessee holdings.
The contracts, the partnerships for which the operator did not disclose, vary in length from one year to three years.
“The signing of these additional sales contracts puts the company in a more secure position going forward," said National Coal president Daniel Roling.
“We have been anticipating higher levels of production for 2008 versus 2007, and these additional sales contracts will support those higher levels of production.”
The establishment of NCC's Alabama subsidiary was announced in October after the company acquired Mann Steel. The renamed entity was taken on in a deal funded with debt financing of $US50 million and another $12 million in equity that was initially announced in late September.
National Coal is expected to have 2.6Mt in sales for the year, equalling about $140 million.
