Corsa said late last week that its initial shipment included 80 car unit trains, representing 16,000 tons of coal. Regular rail shipments have now commenced, as the new loadout is fully functional at the facility near Somerset.
In mid-June, Corsa announced the start of operations at the plant, the transport area of which is perched on the CSX rail line about 170 miles from the Port of Baltimore.
The plant itself has a name plate throughput capacity of 400 raw tons per hour, or 1.8 to 2 million tons annually at full capacity. It will also be able to handle up to 120 car units trains at that point.
“With our wash plant now operating, the recent expansion of our resource base and with six surface mines and a major underground mine operating this year, Corsa has taken another major step in its business plan to become a significant met coal producer,” president and chief executive officer Don Charter said.
“With our scheduled production, we are well positioned to take immediate advantage of the very robust market for US low-vol coking coal.”
Corsa has a met coal inventory of about 100,000 raw tons stockpiled that is being processed at the new facility. Also being processed immediately is the feed from the company’s four producing surface operations and coal purchased from other local mines.
The producer is preparing to bring two more surface operations and an underground mine online in 2011, all of which will also have coal prepared at the new plant.
Plant and Hastings, both open-pit mines, will begin in July and September respectively.
Corsa will begin operations its new Casselman operation in Maryland this month. It purchased the complex in a $US16.2 million deal with Maryland Energy in March.
