ST. LOUIS, Sept. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Peabody
announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sell the
majority of its Burton mine and related infrastructure to the
Lenton Joint Venture for approximately US$11
million.
The Lenton Joint Venture will assume the reclamation obligations
associated with the assets being acquired by the Lenton Joint
Venture, reducing Peabody's asset retirement obligation by
approximately US$53 million while
also releasing an estimated $30
million of restricted cash. The Burton mine, located
in Queensland's Bowen Basin,
entered a care, maintenance and rehabilitation phase in December
2016.
The transaction is conditional on a number of regulatory and
other requirements and completion is expected to take place in the
first half of 2018.
The Lenton Joint Venture, of which New Hope Coal is a 90 percent
participant, controls mining tenements that adjoin the Burton
mine.
Peabody is the world's largest private-sector coal company.
The company is also a leading voice in advocating for
sustainable mining, energy access and clean coal technologies.
Peabody serves metallurgical and thermal coal customers in
more than 25 countries on five continents. For further
information, visit PeabodyEnergy.com.
Media Contact:
Michelle
Constantine
+61 402 476 543
Investor Relations Contact:
Julie Gates
+1 314 342 4336
Certain statements included in this release are
forward-looking as defined in the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. The Company uses words such as "anticipate,"
"believe," "expect," "may," "forecast," "project," "should,"
"estimate," "plan," "outlook," "target," "likely," "will," "to be"
or other similar words to identify forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements are made as of the date the
release was filed and are based on numerous assumptions that the
Company believes are reasonable, but these assumptions are open to
a wide range of uncertainties and business risks that may cause
actual results to differ materially from expectations. These
factors are difficult to accurately predict and may be beyond the
Company's control. Such factors include, but are not limited to
those described in the Company's most recently filed Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,
2016 filed with the SEC on March 22,
2017, as amended on July 10,
2017 and August 14, 2017, and
in Exhibit 99.2 of the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed
on April 11, 2017, as well as other
filings the Company may make from time to time with the SEC.
Factors that could affect the Company's results or an investment in
its securities include but are not limited to: competition in the
energy market and supply and demand for the Company's products,
including the impact of alternative energy sources, such as natural
gas and renewables; global steel demand and its downstream impact
on metallurgical coal prices, and lower demand for the Company's
products by electric power generators; customer procurement
practices and contract duration; the impact of weather and natural
disasters on demand, production and transportation; reductions
and/or deferrals of purchases by major customers and the Company's
ability to renew sales contracts; credit and performance risks
associated with customers, suppliers, contract miners, co-shippers,
and trading, bank and other financial counterparties; geologic,
equipment, permitting, site access, operational risks and new
technologies related to mining; transportation availability,
performance and costs; availability, timing of delivery and costs
of key supplies, capital equipment or commodities such as diesel
fuel, steel, explosives and tires; impact of take-or-pay
arrangements for rail and port commitments for the delivery of
coal; successful implementation of business strategies, including,
without limitation, the actions we are implementing to improve the
Company's organization and respond to current conditions;
negotiation of labor contracts, employee relations and workforce
availability, including, without limitation, attracting and
retaining key personnel; changes in postretirement benefit and
pension obligations and their related funding requirements;
replacement and development of coal reserves; uncertainties in
estimating the Company's coal reserves; effects of changes in
interest rates and currency exchange rates (primarily the
Australian dollar); the Company's ability to successfully
consummate acquisitions or divestitures, and the resulting effects
thereof; economic strength and political stability of countries in
which we have operations or serve customers; legislation,
regulations and court decisions or other government actions,
including, but not limited to, new environmental and mine safety
requirements, changes in income tax regulations, sales-related
royalties, or other regulatory taxes and changes in derivative laws
and regulations; the Company's ability to obtain and renew permits
necessary for the Company's operations; the Company's ability to
appropriately secure the Company's requirements for reclamation,
federal and state workers' compensation, federal coal leases and
other obligations related to the Company's operations, including
the Company's ability to utilize self-bonding and/or successfully
access the commercial surety bond market; litigation or other
dispute resolution, including, but not limited to, claims not yet
asserted; terrorist attacks or security threats, including, but not
limited to, cybersecurity breaches; impacts of pandemic illnesses;
any lack of an established market for certain of the Company's
securities, including the Company's preferred stock, and potential
dilution of the Company's common stock; price volatility in the
Company's securities; short-sales in the Company's securities; any
conflicts of interest between the Company's significant
shareholders and other holders of the Company's capital stock; the
Company's ability to generate sufficient cash to service all of the
Company's indebtedness; the Company's debt instruments and capital
structure placing certain limits on the Company's ability to pay
dividends and repurchase capital stock; the Company's ability to
comply with financial and other restrictive covenants in various
agreements, including the Company's debt instruments; and other
risks detailed in the Company's reports filed with the SEC. The
Company does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements
except as required by law.
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SOURCE Peabody