Aug 6 2012
Signal Peak, a bituminous coal mine located in Montana's Bull Mountains, is "pulling ahead" and on track to becoming a world class mining operation, in both production and safety, reported mining industry magazine Coal Age in a recent profile of Signal Peak entitled, "Signal Peak Energy's Bull Mountain Mine has Pulled it Together and is Pulling Ahead."
The article highlights Signal Peaks' performance transformation which has resulted from the mine's new ownership and leadership, including a one-third interest in the mine by Gunvor Group Ltd, one of the world's leading commodity traders.
"One of the key advantages that Gunvor Group brings to this venture is the ability to utilize their commodity trading relationships in [key] markets... to sell more coal," stated Wayne M. Boich, president and CEO, Boich Companies, one of the Signal Peak partners.
Coal Age reported that, "As part of the new agreement, Gunvor entered into a substantial coal purchase agreement with Signal Peak. The tonnage forecast for Signal Peak... is set to rise to approximately 15 million clean tons per year from the current 9 million tons of expected production."
"New Teams, New attitudes," states Coal Age. The mine's new ownership has fundamentally revitalized the enterprise -- with management working to leverage the mine's strategic assets, such as high regional coal quality, and "... grow the operation into a safe, low cost, high production longwall mine."
The changes have been almost immediate: Coal Age reports that the mine's incidence rating for safety improved dramatically from 10.7 to 1.68 in one year. Signal Peak has also upgraded its infrastructure and equipment, which has enhanced employees' ability to work effectively and maximized productivity.
The clear commitment to success of the new management is reflected throughout Signal Peak, as noted by Coal Age: "Creating stability, a new leadership team and developing and adhering to strict standards has helped Signal Peak's workforce mine more than 1 million tons off the longwall eight out of the last nine months."