CanAm Q3 Coal Sales More Than Double Q2 and 68% Over Prior Year CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/01/12 -- CanAm Coal Corp. (TSX VENTURE:COE), (OTCQX:COECF) ("CanAm" or the "Company") is pleased to report coal production and sales for the third quarter ending September 30, 2012. Consolidated Q3 2012 coal sales were 158,000 tons, more than double Q2 coal sales of 77,000 tons and a 68% increase over Q3 in the prior year. For the nine month period ended September 30, 2012, consolidated coal sales were 302,000 tons, a 46% increase over the prior year. Q3 coal production was 167,400 tons, including 21,300 tons of metallurgical coal.
Three Month Period Nine Month Period
Ended Ended
Sept 30 Oct 31 Sept 30 Oct 31
2012 2011(i) 2012 2011(i)
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Metallurgical coal 15,443 13,175 47,014 43,203
Thermal coal 142,457 81,086 254,615 163,166
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Total 157,900 94,261 301,629 206,369
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(i)The comparative period is to October 31, 2011 as the Company formerly had a January year-end.
Note: CanAm holds 80% ownership in Birmingham Coal & Coke (BCC) following its acquisition of an additional 30% interest, effective July 1, 2012. As at that date, CanAm began consolidating the financial results of BCC in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and, accordingly the above information is presented on a consolidated basis and includes 100% of BCC's sales and production volumes.
The significant increase in both sales and production is attributable to an increase in the Company's ownership in BCC, which was effective July 1, 2012 and an improvement in production at all of our four operating mines. Management and operational changes executed in the first half of the year at the Powhatan mine paid off and coal sales at that mine set an all-time high of 33,332 tons. Operational challenges at the BCC mines, mainly resulting from an incident in Q1 that damaged an excavator at the Gooden Creek mine, were ironed out and sales from BCC's operations were 124,568 tons, the highest level since Q1 of 2008. Sales of metallurgical coal were up 16% from the prior year but slightly down from Q2 as shipments were somewhat hampered by inconsistency in coal quality.
Looking forward to our Q4 and beyond, the Company is expecting continued growth in production and sales as it brings on production from newly permitted mines. The Old Union 2 mine, which received final permitting in late August, started operations in early October and permits for the Knight and Posey Mill 2 mine are expected in the near term.
Jos De Smedt, President and COO of CanAm, commented: "CanAm achieved significant production and sales growth in Q3. The majority of this growth came from our acquisition of 30% of BCC but important operating improvements also positively impacted results. We look forward to building on this momentum with production from our new Old Union 2 mine starting in October. We are also in the final permitting stages for our Knight and Posey Mill 2 mines. Upon receipt of these permits, mining can commence within a short period of time. We look forward to building on our momentum in Q4 and into 2013".
The Company will release full third quarter financial results in late November 2012.