Arch Coal's Dugout Canyon and Sufco Mines Garner Top Safety Awards Among Underground Coal Mines in Eight States

PRICE, Utah, July 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Arch Coal today announced that Canyon Fuel Company's Dugout Canyon and Sufco mines have received two major multi-state safety awards from the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute (RMCMI).

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Dugout Canyon mine received the RMCMI 2013 Safety Award among small underground mines for achieving a perfect safety record. Dugout Canyon employees worked 239,763 hours with a total incident rate of zero, compared to the national underground coal average of 5.05 incidents per 200,000 employee-hours. This is the second consecutive year that Dugout Canyon earned the RMCMI Safety Award.

Sufco mine received the RMCMI 2013 Safety Award among large underground mines for achieving a perfect safety record. In 2012, Sufco employees worked 593,557 hours with a total incident rate of zero, compared to the national underground average of 5.05 incidents per 200,000 employee-hours.

"The employees of Sufco and Dugout truly deserve this recognition for their unwavering commitment to operating safely," said Gene DiClaudio, president of Arch Western Bituminous Group. "Congratulations to our employees for operating a safe and productive workplace."

To qualify for the eight-state award, mines must have produced substantial coal volumes without a reportable safety incident during 2012. Mines then were compared using incident rate data as reported to MSHA for the calendar year.

The RMCMI bestowed a total of three safety awards in 2013 to Arch Coal subsidiaries, including Thunder Basin's Coal Creek mine in the surface mine category.

Canyon Fuel Company is Utah's largest coal producer and a large state employer, with a workforce of more than 700. It operates the Dugout Canyon, Skyline and Sufco mines.

U.S.-based Arch Coal, Inc. is one of the world's top coal producers for the global steel and power generation industries, serving customers in 25 countries on five continents. Its network of mining complexes is the most diversified in the United States, spanning every major coal basin in the nation. The company controls a 5.4-billion-ton reserve base of high-quality metallurgical and thermal coals, with access to all major railroads, inland waterways and a growing number of seaborne trade channels.

SOURCE Arch Coal, Inc.