US-based coal mining and processing company Arch Coal will spend $220-million on its Leer South metallurgical coal development project in 2020, with production set to start in the third quarter of next year.
The miner last year launched development at Leer South, West Virginia, and set a budget of building the new mine at a cost of $360-million to $390-million.
The new mine, Leer South, will be similar to Arch’s existing Leer longwall mine, and will operate in the same 200-million-ton reserve base as the Leer operation.