Cliffs Natural Resources to buy coal miner INR Energy for $757 million
07 Jul 2010
US–based natural resources miner Cliffs Natural Resources Inc, said yesterday that it is buying the coal operations of privately owned INR Energy for $757 million.
The acquisition includes a metallurgical and thermal coal mining complex with a state-of-the-art coal preparation and processing facility located in southern West Virginia. This includes a large, long-life reserve base with an estimated 68 million tons of metallurgical coal and 51 million tons of thermal coal.
Cleveland, Ohio-based Cliff said that this reserve base would increase its total global reserve base to over 175 million tons of metallurgical coal and over 57 million tons of thermal coal.
When combined with its current coal production in West Virginia, Alabama and Queensland, Australia, Cliffs estimates that its 2011 global production capacity would be approximately 9 million tons, a split of approximately 7 million tons metallurgical coal and 2 million tons thermal.
Cliffs hopes to expand INR's production of high-volatile metallurgical coal to 2.4 million tons by 2012, increasing its total future global coal production capacity to nearly 11 million tons split at 8 million tons metallurgical and 3 million tons thermal.
Cliffs expects the acquisition to generate over $400 million in revenue and approximately $175 million in EBITDA.