4,850,000 tons of coal! Record year at Knight Hawk Coal Co.

The numbers are in and despite arduous market conditions and lackluster support for Southern Illinois coal from the Obama administration, the men and women of Knight Hawk Coal Co. in 2014 set a new record for coal production at Knight Hawk mines.

President Steve Carter said Thursday coal production for the year was 4,850,000 tons, a 5 percent increase over the previous year.

In classic Carter fashion, the company's CEO gives credit to the nearly 400 men and women who work for the company or alongside the company for a successful year.

"We are hoping for a 10 percent increase this year (2015)," said Carter. "The market conditions are tough," he adds, "and our goal is to keep the cost of coal competitive." Those pressures may ultimately lower the 2015 outcome.

Knight Hawk's Carter, who in 1998 began carving a reconstituted coal industry out of box cuts along the Perry/Jackson County border, doesn't mince words in his disfavor of the Obama administration. And, last summer he told employees plainly, "I can't tell you how to vote--and don't want to--but I think Mr. (now governor) Rauner will be better for our industry."

The endorsement was a gamble, but it played out all across Illinois in the November election.

"We are close to having our permits for the Golden Eagle mine along Pyramid State Park. That will give us an additional reserve life of about seven years (about 4 million tons) which will more or less be a tradeoff as other areas are mined out.

"We are working on the American Eagle portal, but we are near a cemetery and we have to both mine as close as we can to the cemetery, but protect it," he said.

"This year we are also building a new tugboat to replace one that sank." he said of Knight Hawk's coal transportation network.

And, along the way Carter supports the company's families and dozens of community programs.

Knight Hawk is a forward-thinking company and Carter will always tell you how grateful he is for the blessings.

A Great Story

The mid-1990s found the once-thriving Illinois coal industry reduced to a shadow of itself. The large coal companies had all but pulled up stakes and the demand for coal was in decline. Four partners - Steve Carter, F.D. Robertson, James Bunn and James Bunn Jr., however, understood there were still pockets of need for southern Illinois' high-quality, low chlorine coal. In 1998, Knight Hawk Coal, LLC, a family-owned coal mining company, was created to meet those needs.

In the early days Knight Hawk produced coal exclusively by surface mining. It opened its first underground mine in 2006. It currently has a mix of five surface, two underground and two carbon recovery operations.

Also in 2006, Knight Hawk began a partnership with Arch Coal. What started as a 1/3rd partnership has matured to where Arch Coal holds a 49 percent interest in the company. In return for the increased ownership, Knight Hawk was able to secure its long term future through the addition of vast reserves adjacent to its Prairie Eagle operation. The company remains controlled by the founding families with the Carter family owning 25 ½ percent and the Bunn and Robertson families controlling an equal share.

One of Knight Hawk's competitive advantages is its dock, Lone Eagle, on the Mississippi River (MM#105 UMR) where 80 percent of the coal is shipped. The Mighty Mississippi allows Knight Hawk to competitively access markets throughout the Midwest and Southeast United States, as well as international opportunities through the Gulf Coast. In support of Lone Eagle Dock, Knight Hawk contracts an independent truck fleet as well as the ability to load rail cars on the Canadian National in a limited fashion. With Prairie Eagle's proximity to both the Canadian National and Union Pacific rail lines, the loading of unit trains on either or both lines is a possibility.

Because of its family roots, Knight Hawk has a strong sense of responsibility to the community. The Carters, like the majority of their employees, live in towns and neighborhoods near where they mine. Knight Hawk also prides itself on hiring of extended family members of employees which along with the entrepreneurial spirit provides a family atmosphere throughout the workplace and the community.

From a crew of 17 people turning a fallow crop field into a coal mine in 1998, to employing nearly 400 people along with an equal amount of contractors, Knight Hawk has seen steady and controlled growth to where it produces five million tons of coal annually.