Foundation Settles Supply Suit With ArcelorMittal

Foundation did not change 2009 production expectations as a result of the deal, but the company did say it expects the settlement to affect prices.

For this year, Foundation lowered average price projections to $62.06 per ton from its eastern mines, down from an earlier prediction of $65.10. The company increased the expected per ton price for 2010 to $74.85 from $68.11 and for 2011 to $82.92 from $78.82.

The stakes for both companies have changed significantly since Linthicum Heights, Md.-based Foundation filed the suit in January.

Coking coal accounts for about 2 percent of the 70 million tons of coal Foundation sells annually. But Foundation agreed on May 12 to a $1.4 billion takeover offer from rival Alpha Natural Resources, the largest U.S. exporter of coking coal.

Coking coal accounted for 42 percent of the 28.3 million tons of coal Alpha sold last year and the Abingdon, Va.-based company bills itself as the largest U.S. supplier and exporter of coking coal.

Combined, Foundation and Alpha would be the nation's third-largest coal producer, with mines in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Wyoming.