TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Despite widening its third-quarter loss, US coal miner Alpha Natural Resources has beaten Wall Street analysts’ earnings expectations for the three months ended September 30, which was in part the result of lower costs.

The NYSE-listed thermal and metallurgical coal miner reported a net loss of $458-million, or $2.07 a share, compared with a net loss of $46-million, or $0.21 a share, in the third quarter of 2012.

The adjusted loss fell to $134-million, or $0.61 a share, compared with an adjusted net loss of $36-million, or $0.16 a share. Analysts had on average expected an adjusted net loss of $0.77 a share on revenues of $1.1-billion.

The company’s total revenues for the period fell 27% year-on-year to $1.19-billion, down from $1.63-billion, which was mainly the result of coal revenues sliding 29% to $1.03-billion in the quarter.

Thermal coal prices had fallen as electricity generators switched to natural gas, and a supply glut and weak demand from China had weighed on steelmaking coal prices.

"Although our third-quarter results reflect the tough market environment and downtime at our Cumberland mine, we are encouraged that the metallurgical coal market appears to be gradually improving from its recent apparent low point, and domestic thermal coal inventories have trended down, planting the seeds for healthier market conditions in the future," chairperson and CEO Kevin Crutchfield said.

Alpha also announced cuts to its 2013 capital budget to between $260-million and $290-million, down from between $275-million and $325-million, and set a budget of between $250-million and $350-million for 2014.

Arch Coal on Tuesday also lowered its outlook for capital spending and for its cash cost per ton for both its Powder River basin and Appalachian operations and the top US coal producer Peabody Energy had also earlier this month slashed the top end of its capital expenditures for the year.

Alpha expects to ship between 86-million and 91-million tons during 2013, including 20-million to 21-million tons of Eastern metallurgical coal, 28-million to 30-million tons of Eastern steam coal, and 38-million to 40-million tons of Western Powder River basin coal.

Alpha also said it had made "significant progress" toward reaching a tentative settlement in a securities class action brought by Massey stockholders in 2010 that alleged deficiencies in Massey's disclosures of safety information. Alpha bought Massey Energy for $7.1-billion in 2011.

The company's NYSE-listed stock rose 5.19% to $7.09 apiece on Thursday.