Western bituminous coal production totaled 16.8 million st in the fourth quarter, up 12.7% fro

m the prior quarter and up 1.8% from the year-ago quarter, according to recent data from the 

Mine Safety and Health Administration. 

It was the highest quarterly total since Q4 of 2015, largely as a result of increased exports. 

Through  November of this year,  bituminous  coal  export s from  the Western US Census 

districts of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle are up 239% compared with the same 

period last year. 

For  the  full  year,  coal  production  from  the  Western bit states, which includes Arizona, 

Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Montana and Wyoming, totaled 63.4 million st in 2017, up 3.9

% from 2016. 

In Q4, the basin's most productive mine was the Bull Mountains mine, owned by Signal Peak 

Energy, in Montana, which produced 1.79 million st, up 37.5% from last year. On a full-year 

basis, production from the mine totaled 5,883,820 st, up 4.9% from 2016. 

The basin's second most productive mine in Q4 was Bowie Resource Partners' Sufco mine in 

Utah,  which  produced  1.65  million  st,  up  23.1% from the year-ago quarter, while full-year 

production totaled a basin high 5,883,975 st in 2017, up 9.5% from last year.