Americas chief operating officer Sam Johnson will serve as president of the new Kentucky-based, wholly owned subsidiary.

"Finalizing the purchase of Evans Coal gives AENY access to more than 1785 acres of permitted coal property,” Americas president Chris Headrick said.

The company’s production capabilities have increased on its acquisition of the Upland Church project, from 11,000 tons monthly to more than 50,000t clean, which it will mark by the end of next month.

Headrick said the company would begin operations at its Artemus surface property this week, as contract negotiations with the contract miner had been completed.

Three permits are included in the Evans Coal deal, with which Americas can produce as much as 300,000t monthly.

Americas is currently producing from the 3 Hance seams at Upland Church and the Rooster seams at Hwy 92. When Artemus commences work, crews will pull from the Jellico seam and Lily seams as well as specialty coal from the Kentucky Blue Gem.

According to Kentucky professional engineer Michael Gambrel, Evans Coal controls approximately 348 million tons of reserves, or 211Mt of recoverable coal, worth more than $US13 billion at current market prices.

Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, Americas has projects in operation in Kentucky and Tennessee and is evaluating several other opportunities in the region.