JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – US coal-mining company Massey Energy said on Thursday that it bought the Marmet Dock river barge loading facility from Kanawha River Terminals, which would allow it to ship more of its coal by river rather than by rail, saving costs.

“We can use this facility to blend different types of coal from several of our resource groups, thereby creating custom coal products that command premium prices. The addition of these assets will provide us with key advantages in our strategy to expand our sales of high quality metallurgical coal,” said Massey Energy president Baxter Phillips Jr.

The facility is located near its Route 3 operations, as well as its Inman Black Castle and Republic resource groups, in West Virginia.

It has a ground storage capacity of 300 000 t and a loading capacity of between five-million and seven-million tons a year.

“Ultimately the tons we blend and ship through Marmet can be loaded more efficiently on export vessels,” added Phillips.

The company expected the facility to assist in boosting its exports through the Gulf of Mexico.

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