The North American Coal Corporation

The North American Coal Corporation is engaged in the surface mining of lignite as fuel for power generation by electric utilities, with current operations in North Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The company also provides dragline mining services for independently owned limerock quarries in Florida through its North American Mining division.

Mining approximately 35 million tons per year, North American Coal ranks as the nation’s largest lignite coal producer and among the top 10 coal producers in the U.S.

As a result of the company’s high standards on environmental awareness and conservation, low-cost production and customer service, and its commitment to employee safety and support, North American Coal is recognized throughout the mining industry for leadership and excellence.

DESCRIPTION

The North American Coal Corporation's four lignite coal mining operations continue to deliver increasing amounts of lignite coal, making the company the nation’s largest lignite coal producer and among the top 10 coal producers nationwide. The company’s lignite coal operations include the Falkirk Mine, Freedom Mine, Red Hills Mine, and Sabine Mine.

Operations that are currently under construction and development are Eagle Pass Mine, Five Forks Mine, Liberty Mine, and the Marshall Mine.

North American Mining Company, a division of North American Coal, conducts limerock dragline mining operations in South Florida for independently-owned limerock quarries.

SERVICES:

The North American Coal Corporation has been a leader in contract surface mining services since the 1950s, with a history and a reputation for establishing successful, long-term customer partnerships based on our commitment to service, efficiency and excellence in operations. In the past decade, we initiated dragline mining services for limerock recovery and have emerged as a leader in this area of the industry.

We have earned our reputation for industry leadership by delivering solid expertise and complete capabilities in every aspect of contract mining:

Engineers who perform comprehensive studies, taking into account archaeological and environmental impacts, hydrology, transportation methods, available labor, surface encumbrances and regulatory considerations

Land personnel who acquire property and mining rights

Environmental personnel who prepare applications to obtain all necessary environmental permits and oversee studies needed to obtain those permits

Maintenance personnel who develop and oversee programs to maintain the equipment and facilities to ensure reliable and safe operation

Operations personnel who manage mining activities to maximize safety, productivity and resource recovery

Human resource personnel who develop personnel policies and manage staffing.

History

In 1913, Frank E. Taplin, Sr., a former office boy for John D. Rockefeller at Standard Oil Company, founded The Cleveland & Western Coal Company in Cleveland, Ohio. While originally concerned only with coal sales, by 1917 Cleveland & Western expanded into coal mining operations through the acqusition of three mines in Belmont County, Ohio. In 1925, The Powhatan Mining Company was incorporated as a subsidiary of Cleveland & Western and opened the then-largest mechanized deep mine in Ohio. Subsequently, Cleveland & Western changed its name to The North American Coal Corporation. Between 1917 and 1932, North American Coal expanded its mining operations to West Virginia and diversified its business by acquiring coal docks in Milwaukee, Duluth, Toronto, Hamilton and Port Maitland. By the time of Taplin’s death in 1938, North American Coal produced nearly 2 million tons of coal annually.

After World War II, North American Coal continued to grow by entering into long-term sales contracts with utility providers and purchasing underground coal reserves in Pennsylvania and Ohio. By 1952, North American Coal was producing over 5 million tons of bituminous coal per year. In 1957, North American Coal expanded into the western United States and into the business of lignite production when it purchased the Dakota Collieries Company surface lignite mine near Zap, North Dakota and renamed it Indian Head Mine. When North American Coal’s stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1961, the company was the ninth-largest coal producer in the United States, with annual sales of over 6 million tons. In 1966, as part of a general strategy to increase its long-term sales contracts, North American Coal negotiated a one million ton per year contract with a North Dakota utility. Consequently, North American Coal acquired large amounts of lignite reserves near Indian Head Mine and established The Coteau Properties Company in 1972 and The Falkirk Mining Company in 1974. Seeing coal as a viable alternative to the dwindling amounts of natural gas in the southwestern United States, North American Coal continued its push westward by acquiring nearly 400 million tons of coal in Texas in the late 1970s.

By 1978, over 80 percent of North American Coal’s reserves were located in North Dakota, and nearly half of the company’s coal production came from its western operations. North American Coal began to phase out its bituminous coal mines in Pennsylvania and Ohio during the 1980s, having already closed its subsurface mines in West Virginia during the 1960s, in order to concentrate on its promising lignite surface mines in North Dakota and Texas. In 1985, North American Coal bought a controlling interest in Yale Materials Handling Corporation from Eaton Corporation. In the following year, 1986, North American Coal created a new holding company, NACCO Industries, Inc., traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol NC.  North American Coal became a wholly owned subsidiary of NACCO, as did Yale Materials Handling Corporation, which was operated by the NACCO Materials Handling Group subsidiary.  In 1990, North American Coal relocated its headquarters from Cleveland to Dallas, Texas.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, North American Coal continued to focus on the production of lignite while also providing dragline mining services to independently owned limerock quarries in Florida. Today, North American Coal is one of the United States’ largest miners of lignite coal and among the largest coal producers in the country, producing approximately 30.86 million tons of coal in 2015. In addition to its Florida dragline operations, North American Coal operates mines in North Dakota, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.

Safety

North American Coal believes that the health and safety of all employees directly relates to its business success. As a result, safety is North American Coal’s top priority in everything it does.  It has established itself as an industry leader in mining safety, having consistently achieved exemplary safety records at its multiple operations.

North American Coal’s policy is to:

• design and maintain facilities, establish management systems, provide training and conduct operations in a manner that safeguards people and property;

• respond quickly, effectively, and with care to emergencies or accidents at our operations, in cooperation with industry organizations and governmental agencies;

• comply at a minimum with state and federal regulations, and apply responsible standards where laws and regulations do not exist;

• stress to all employees, contractors, and others working on North American Coal’s behalf their responsibility and accountability for safe behavior on and off the job; and

• undertake appropriate reviews and evaluations of our operations to measure progress in safety and to ensure strict compliance with this policy.