The Friends of Coal-West Virginia Facebook pages continues to build a following. We have now crossed more than 2,500 “friends” on the “Coal Friend” page and almost 1,100 “fans” on the Friends of Coal-West Virginia “fan” page. It is important to note that this has happened before an “official launch,” with people actually searching out the pages as we have developed them.

In addition, the Friends of Coal Ladies’ Auxiliary Facebook page continues to build its base, providing a constant stream of information, photos and video of the efforts of the Auxiliary during this holiday season.  Drop by our pages on Facebook and join our growing family of friends today.

The Friends of Coal Ladies Auxiliary “Giving Hearts” program continues to be a major success. In its third year, the program reaches out to the community to offer assistance to those in need.  "We raised enough funding this year to provide Christmas for 63 families -- more than 300 individuals," said Regina Fairchild of the Auxiliary. "The majority of these needy families were deployed military. We reached out across West Virginia as far as Wheeling and Camp Dawson, literally doubling our number of families from 2010. We are all so very blessed and it truly was an overwhelming experience. Each child receives three gifts of their choice, clothing, each parent receives a gift. Enough food is provided for each family for at least two weeks. Imagine all the turkeys and hams, cases of water, juice, potatoes alone."

The 2012 Mining Symposium will be held February 1-3 at the Charleston Civic Center. Planning is now underway for the event. We look forward to it continuing to build on the successes of the past.

“The Symposium is always one of the most important events on the calendar for those of us involved in the coal industry,” said WVCA President Bill Raney. “But it has grown quickly and has become one of the most important technical shows in the state.”

Registration information will be forwarded via e-mail the first of the year.

For the third quarter, 2011, the MSHA database shows that there were 1,123 coal mines with some production of coal, approximately 1.4% above the 3Q10 level of 1,107 mines. Of these 1,123 mines, we count 381 (34%) active mines that were owned by a public company and 742 active mines (66%) that were privately held. The publicly owned mines produced 75% of U.S. coal output in 3Q11 and the private mines produced 25%.  For this period, 69% of U.S. coal production came from surface mines and 31% from underground mines.

Representatives of the West Virginia Coal Association participated in the annual Governor’s Energy Summit earlier this month at the Stonewall Resort. The event, sponsored by the WV Governor’s Office and the WV Department of Commerce was entitled West Virginia: Energy Powering Economic Development.

WV Coal Association Vice President Jason Bostic gave a presentation outlining the status of permitting with EPA in West Virginia.  Ernie Thraster of Xcoal also presetned a detailed and insightful analysis of the metallurgical export market.