August 14, 2024 - Day 3 of the Bluefield Coal Symposium presented by the Chamber of Commerce of the Two Virginias and Coal Zoom at the Chuck Mathena Center, in Princeton, WV began with a Keynote Address by John Schroder, President & CEO, of United Coal Company.

John Schroder

“Since 2009, when we were purchased by Metinvest, we have invested more than $500 million in opening new and upgrading existing mines including: restarting 1.1 million tons per year Affinity Mining Complex and developing new mines in WV, VA, and KY,” said Schroder. “We are particularly proud to have equipped advanced proximity safety systems at all our operations.”

United Coal Company (UCC) is a privately held coal company with mining operations in Central Appalachia. UCC has two producing subsidiaries and two corporate offices (Johnson Citty, TN and Beckley, WV). The two producing subsidiaries are Affinity Coal, Sophia, WV and Wellman Coal Co, Grundy, VA and East KY. UCC has 10 underground and surface mines annually producing 2.4 million tons of high quality met coal supplying to both domestic and global markets.

Acquired by Metinvest in 2009, an international metals and mining company with assets and also located in Ukraine and Europe on July 1, UCC employed 651 people and for every one person employed there are an additional 3 to 4 people in supporting and community jobs.

UCC uses a modern web application, designed and built in-house that provides near real-time insights of the business including safety, production, maintenance, sales, shipping, and land management. A live dashboard built on a cloud-based server infrastructure captures and integrates with various in-house data sources.

The Symposium continues today with a Coal Panel moderated by David Kanagy, Executive Director & CEO, Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, Inc. who will examine the future of coal. Over 2 ½ days, over 275 have come to this on-of-a-kind event.