It will be 12 to 18 months before there will even be any signs of a recovery in the eastern US coal sector says Monty Boyd, a major Caterpillar supplier for the region.
“Eastern US coal is in the cross hairs with several different things coming at them,” said Boyd at Sunday at a press event before MINExpo.
Boyd is president and CEO of Whayne Supply Company and Walker Machinery.
“We’ve seen the ups and downs. We are certainly in the downs right now.”
Like coal, the president of Finning in South America, Marcello Marchese, says undeveloped projects in his region are not getting developed.
“Some of the greenfield projects–effectively–they have been neglected, but existing ones, they are running at full-speed,” says Marchese.
Marchese says his company has been busy supplying equipment to large existing miners to keep extracting more ore, rather than break ground on new deposits.
Comments
USDiz
This is not a normal coal price cycle. This downturn may indeed appear to be from several different factors, but the prognosis for coal is not that good, primarily because of the present political climate. Fortunately the real climate and the political climate has always changed and always will change. The outcome of the November election will be critical to the survival of eastern coal. The Obama EPA is rushing to drive a stake in the heart of the US coal industry and eventually all fossil fuels. Gas and oil should not take comfort in the death of coal. States along the Ohio River will suffer greatly in the loss of energy intensive industry if the Obama EPA is allowed to continue their crusade.