Jul 22 2010
HEADWATERS INCORPORATED (NYSE: HW) announced it has realized gains in overall shipping volume on the seaborne export metallurgical coal market from its coal cleaning facilities to both Brazilian and Chinese Markets.
Headwaters Incorporated, a diversified growth company dedicated to improving sustainability by transforming underutilized resources into valuable products, operates 11 coal cleaning facilities across the United States. Five of the eleven facilities have produced a metallurgical quality cleaned coal.
Prior to 2010, Headwaters either shipped its cleaned coal in the steam coal market domestically, or as a small percentage of a blend into the metallurgical coal market. Shipments of metallurgical coal in 2009 were minimal.
“In order to increase our shipping volumes in the met market we had to improve the quality of our metallurgical coal and demonstrate that our coal could be shipped without prior blending,” said Darrell Turner, Headwaters Resources Director of Sales and Marketing. “We have accomplished both tasks.”
Headwaters’ first success with marketing its cleaned coal as a direct un-blended product came in late 2009 with a shipment to Brazil. This was the first time cleaned coal was exported without blending. This shipment demonstrated the ability to deliver un-blended recovered and cleaned coal to the international met coal markets. Since this initial success, Headwaters has agreed to a long-term commitment of clean coal shipments to Brazil.
After achieving success in the seaborne met market to Brazil, Headwaters recently completed its first shipment of 100% un-blended cleaned met coal to China. Headwaters launched a second shipment to China on July 11.
Headwaters recently attended a coal conference in Rizhao, China, to promote its cleaned coal to other interested buyers. During the conference, the attendees were allowed to visit the Port of Rizhao to see the unloading of the first vessel of un-blended cleaned coal shipped to China from Headwaters’ facilities.
Interest in Headwaters’ recovered and cleaned coal from metallurgical coal buyers has increased as news of the success in shipping on the seaborne market spreads. Headwaters will continue to work to improve overall product quality and to develop strong relationships with international buyers of metallurgical coal.
Source: http://www.headwaters.com/