Atlantic Coal (LON:ATC) has enjoyed a solid start to the year, according to quarterly production figures which show the group sold 31,238 tons of the fuel at an average price of US$134.25 a tonne.
The company owns the Stockton opencast mine in Pennsylvania, which produces anthracite.
It is also carrying out due diligence on a 158-acre site close to Stockton, which could cost around $1.2 million to buy.
It is believed to contain 12 million tons of colliery spoil, with about 10-15 per cent recoverable coal, 1 million tonnes of silt and 2.5 million of coal that can be extracted via open-cast mining.
Atlantic recently raised $12 million to fund acquisition opportunities as it bids to expand its base in the US.
Today’s update revealed the group mined 120,850 tons of run-of-mine coal and removed 658,785 bank cubic yards of overburden in the three months to the end of March.
A total of 62,000 tons of coal was washed, which produced 28,376 tons of clean coal.
More than 90,000 tons of good quality run-of-mine coal is also held as stock.
Atlantic is increasing weekly working hours to increase production in the current quarter and remains on target to produce an estimated 450,000-500,000 tons of ROM for 2011.
Managing Director Steve Best said: "This has been a positive period for the company during which we have focused on driving growth in the business through increasing production at Stockton and identifying consolidation opportunities in the Pennsylvanian anthracite fields.
"Our production profile for the last quarter was close to that of our best three months achieved in 2010, despite severe weather conditions experienced throughout the region, and I am confident that our committed investment at Stockton will continue to improve the mine economics and subsequently build shareholder value."