Second shipment of Usibelli coal headed to Chile; another load likely in January

Usibelli Coal Mine has secured a sales contract for a second shipment of coal to Chile with Glencore Ltd. The ship was scheduled to begin loading approximately 45,000 metric tons on Dec. 21.

This load, Usibelli said in a Dec. 20 press release coal is destined to be burned in a different company's power plant than the cargo shipped to Chile in August.

"Preliminary indications are that the first customer will take an additional" cargo load of coal in January, Usibelli said.

The company attributed the significant interest in Alaska coal in recent months to the rising cost of energy worldwide. Chile is the furthest distance Alaska coal has been shipped, Usibelli said.

"Glencore and its customer in Chile have been very good to work with," said Steve Denton, vice president of business development for Usibelli. "We hope these initial shipments are the beginning of a long term relationship in this sector of the export coal market."

Usibelli is headquartered in Healy, Alaska, where it mines approximately 1.2 million tons of coal annually. Approximately 800,000 tons provides fuel for the generation of power and heat throughout Interior Alaska. The remainder, about 400,000 tons, is exported to South Korea via rail to Seward, where it is loaded into ocean-going vessels at the Alaska Railroad's Seward Coal Terminal.