The 10 Largest Coal Mining Companies In The United States

Coal mining in the United States has a long history. In fact, it goes back to the 1300s with Native Americans from the Hopi tribe using coal. Commercial coal use didn’t come into use until 1701, but that’s still a pretty impressive history.

It was during the 1880s that coal overtook wood as the largest source of energy and remained the dominant power source in the United States through the 1950s when petroleum took the lead.

Through the 1900s coal was still a key provider of energy in the United States and it remains a powerful industry, but in recent years there has been a decline in mining due to alternative sources of energy.

10 Largest Coal Mining Companies in the United States

While the coal mining industry is struggling, with almost half of the companies in the U.S. having filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, there is still a need for coal. These are the largest companies in the industry:

1. Peabody Energy

   St. Louis, Missouri
   2021 Annual Revenue: $22.77 billion

   By far the largest producer of coal in the United States, Peabody Energy is a true giant. In fact, they are the largest private-sector coal company in the entire world. They serve customers in more than 25 countries on six continents.

   While the company was listed in Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired Companies in 2008, it has declined significantly since then. The rising concern about global warming, combined with their Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing has done them no favors.

   But they emerged from bankruptcy in 2017 and have begun rebuilding their brand and reputation.

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2. Arch Coal

   St. Louis, Missouri
   2021 Annual Revenue: $22.77 billion

   Previously known as Arch Coal, Arch Resources is actively rebranding themselves to focus on how their coal helps electric power, steel producers, and industrial facilities.

   Arch is the second-largest supplier of coal in the United States, but there is still a wide gap between their output and that of Peabody. In 2018 it was estimated that Peabody produced over 20% of the coal used in the U.S., while Arch produced over 13%.

   Arch Resources operates 32 active mines and controls 5.5 billion tons of coal reserves. While there have been a large number of mergers and acquisitions in the Arch history, they’re not exempt from bankruptcy.

   This company filed for Chapter 11 protection in early 2016 and emerged from it later in the year with a generous court approval to restructure their debt.

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3. Cloud Peak Energy

   Gillette, Wyoming
   2021 Annual Revenue: $3.32 billion

   Another leader in the coal industry was Cloud Peak Energy, headquartered in Gillette, Wyoming. This company was another to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019 and instead of restructuring and emerging as the same company, they were purchased by Navajo Transitional Energy Company or NTEC, as it’s often called.

   NTEC is currently the nation’s third-largest producer of coal and it’s owned by the Navajo Nation. It is important to point out that they are not controlled by the Navajo Nation, despite their ownership.

   Currently, NTEC owns four coal mines in New Mexico, Montana, and two of them in Wyoming. In their purchase of Cloud Peak, they also acquired surface and mineral rights for approximately 90,000 acres.

   They have announced a plan to refocus operations on diligent mining and marketing fundamentals.

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4. Murray Energy/American Consolidated Natural Resources, Inc.

   Saint Clairsville, Ohio
   2021 Annual Revenue: $2.2 billion

   American Consolidated Natural Resources, Inc. used to be known as Murray Energy, named after the founder Robert E. Murray.

   Like many others, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2019. Part of the bankruptcy required Murray to step down as CEO. When the company emerged from bankruptcy, they were owned by their former creditors.

   They are the fourth-largest coal mining company in the United States but they are the largest one that is privately owned.

   Unfortunately, the company has been plagued by bad news with the Crandall Canyon mine collapse and the revelation that funding had been given to the company (prior to bankruptcy) by organizations that promote climate change denial.

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5. Alliance Resource Partners, LP

   Tulsa, Oklahoma
   2021 Annual Revenue: $1.26 billion

   Alliance Resource Partners, LP (ARPL) is officially the fifth-largest coal producer in the United States but they like to cite that they are the second-largest producer in the eastern states and the largest producer in the Illinois Basin. Remarkably, this company has been able to avoid filing Chapter 11.

   ARPL is a diversified natural resource company with income from coal production and oil gas mineral interests. They sold 39.3 million tons of coal in 2019 and operate underground mines in five states.

   The company has been around since 1971 but must be feeling the same financial tensions that the rest of the market has felt.

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6. Revelation Energy

   Milton, West Virginia
   2021 Annual Revenue: $832.4 million

   While Revelation/Blackjewel was a leader in the coal industry in the states, it’s unsure of its current or future status. In 2019 the company joined many others and filed for bankruptcy.

   They have not emerged from their filing yet and it’s hard to determine what will happen. In virtual corporate limbo, the company may find a way to get back on its feet and resume being a leader in the mining industry or they could go under.

   The biggest sign that the Revelation/Blackjewel bankruptcy is different is that while others in the industry kept running during their reorganization, Revelation/Blackjewel miners were laid off.

   Not only that, but other mines gave the employees that they did lay off ample notice and paid them for their time – not so with the Revelation/Blackjewel employees.

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7. NACCO Industries

   Cleveland, Ohio
   2021 Annual Revenue: $192 million

   NACCO was once known as North American Coal Corporation, back in 1913 when they first started. By 1925 they’d already decided to shorten the name to NACCO and operated exclusively in the coal industry until 1985.

   NACCO significantly expanded its holdings in 1985 and the subsequent years.

   This was a huge benefit for the company because they expanded from strictly a coal company to one that also handled housewares with the purchase of Proctor Silex and Hamilton Beach. They then expanded their holdings to include the materials handling industry.

   As NACCO is another one of the coal mining companies that has been able to avoid bankruptcy, their broad market base may be the reason.

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8. CONSOL Energy

   Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
   2021 Annual Revenue: N/A

   CONSOL Energy split up its company in 2017. It then formed two different companies, CNX Resources Corporation, with a focus on natural gas, and Consol Mining Corporation which has morphed into CONSOL Energy, Inc., the coal end of the company.

   In 2010 CONSOL was the leading producer of high-BTU bituminous coal in the United States and the largest underground coal mining company.

   Since that time, it has dropped in production and the split in the company has left them in a lower position in the country’s lineup of coal producers, but it may have helped the company survive. While Murray Energy did take a controlling stake in 2013, this company has been able to avoid bankruptcy.

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9. Foresight Energy

   St. Louis, Missouri
   2021 Annual Revenue: N/A

   Foresight Energy is another company that has hit hard times and filed for bankruptcy in March of 2020. They had been a leading producer of thermal coal in the Illinois Basin, controlling nearly 2.1 billion tons of coal reserves.

   At this point, it appears that Foresight Energy will hand their ownership over to creditors and cease being a company. There has been an incredibly generous proposal created to relieve Foresight Energy of much of its debt.

   This case has yet to be resolved but it is tied to the previous presidential administration and its efforts to save the coal industry.

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10. Contura Energy/Alpha Natral Resources.

    Bristol, Tennessee
    2021 Annual Revenue: N/A

    As of February 1, 2021, Contura Energy changed names and became Alpha Metallurgical Resources, Inc. They are a leading coal supplier with both underground coal mining and surface coal mining operations in the Appalachian regions.

    Alpha Metallurgical Resources is a relative newcomer to this industry as it began operations in 2016. They did this under the name of Contura Energy and through the purchase of Alpha Natural Resources’ assets.

    In November 2018, the merger of these two companies turned them into America’s biggest supplier of metallurgical coal.

    Taking an interesting position, the company announced in August of 2020 that it would exit from the thermal coal business as the world is turning away from fossil fuels. This could be the move that saves this company from failure and leads them into the next generation of fuel.

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The Current Status of Coal Mining in the United States

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) provides an Annual Coal Report which compiles data on the coal-mining companies across the country. Their findings show that coal mining is in decline. Since 2010, there have been many Chapter 11 filings by coal companies, but the business is far from extinct.

Today there are three main regions of coal production in the United States: the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana, the Appalachian Basin, and the Illinois Basin. As of 2014, 25 states produce coal, but three-quarters of all the coal production nationwide occurs in just five states: Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.

Author

Kristin Kizer

Kristin Kizer is an award-winning writer, television and documentary producer, and content specialist who has worked on a wide variety of written, broadcast, and electronic publications. A former writer/producer for The Discovery Channel, she is now a freelance writer and delighted to be sharing her talents and time with the wonderful Zippia audience.