Centennial Says Supply of Steelmaking Coal ‘Fragile’

[phantom power]

May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Centennial Coal Co., an Australian producer of coal used in steelmaking, says global supply remains “fragile” and predicted contract prices will rise in the second quarter.

Japanese steel mills in March agreed to pay BHP Billiton Ltd., Rio Tinto Group and Teck Resources Ltd. about $200 a metric ton for a three-month coking coal contract starting April 1. That’s a 55 percent increase on the contract for the year ending March 31, UBS AG said in a March 18 note.

Demand for steelmaking coal is rising as the global industry recovers, Tony Macko, Centennial’s general manager of corporate affairs, said in a presentation filed to the Australian stock exchange today. Supplies of thermal coal, burned by power stations, remain “tight,” he said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aLZ5Fb3cc_Gw

[happyslug]

1. Yes the Pittsburgh seam has been worked for over 200 years

The Pittsburgh Seam of coal has been called the richest mineral deposit ever found, extending from Pittsburgh deep into West Virginia:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1996/of96-280/
In the above map, the red areas are the MINED out areas of the seam, the dark gray areas are what remains of the Pittsburgh Seam, the light gray area are "Horizon" areas, areas where Pittsburgh Seam MIGHT exist, but no one knows, or if known of a lower quality.


Mined out parts of the Pittsburgh Seam:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_coal_seam

The following site is a detail version of the above map, it does take a lot of bandwidth to download, but goes into details as to the Pittsburgh Seam: Warning this will take several minutes to download:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1996/of96-280/pittsburgh.pdf

While there are other Coal that are considered good for Steel, the Pittsburgh Seam is considered among the best. Over half of it is gone (If you exclude the "Horizon" areas).