page_title: Peabody Energy
hierarchical_section_title: Peabody Energy
caption_attribution_description: English: The United States’ highest rate of coal production is in Wyoming, with almost 400 million short tons extracted in 2004. The majority of this coal is burned to generate electrical power within the United States, but a small percentage is also goes to Spain and Canada. The Powder River Basin in the northeastern portion of the state is the most productive of Wyoming’s coal fields. The extensive coal deposits - ranging in thickness from 21 to 53 meters (70 to 175 feet) - formed over 38-66 million years ago. The source of organic material for the coal originated in swamps, estuaries, and deltas associated with the regression (retreat) of a large inland seaway that occupied central North America during the Cretaceous Period, which spanned the years between about 144 to 65 million years ago. Open-pit strip mining is the technique that coal operators prefer for removing the sparsely vegetated surface (overburden in mining terminology) of northeastern Wyoming that covers the coal seams. One of the largest of these mines, Peabody Energy’s North Antelope Rochelle Complex, is located at the center of this astronaut photograph. A portion of Arch Coal’s Black Thunder Mine Complex is visible to north. Active coal seam faces are visible as black lines, and the stepped benches along the sides of the pit allow access for trucks carrying coal and overburden from the mine. Large draglines and shovels remove the overburden and expose the coal seam; blasting reduces the coal to loadable fragments. The coal is then transported from Wyoming by up to 2000 rail cars per day. Following removal of the coal, mining companies are required by federal law to reclaim and revegetate the former mine workings.
context_page_description: Peabody Energy, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is the largest private sector coal company in the world. Its primary business consists of the mining, sale, and distribution of coal, which is purchased for use in electricity generation and steelmaking. Peabody also markets, brokers, and trades coal through offices in China, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
  In 2017, Peabody recorded sales of 191.5 million tons of coal. Peabody markets coal to electricity generating and industrial customers in more than 25 nations on six continents. As of December 31, 2017, the company had approximately 5.2 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves.
  Peabody maintains ownership of majority interests in 23 surface and underground mining operations located throughout the United States and Australia. In the United States, company-owned mines are located in Alabama, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois, and Indiana. Peabody's largest operation is the North Antelope Rochelle Mine located in Campbell County, Wyoming, which mined more than 92 million tons of coal in 2016.
context_section_description: Peabody Energy, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is the largest private sector coal company in the world. Its primary business consists of the mining, sale, and distribution of coal, which is purchased for use in electricity generation and steelmaking. Peabody also markets, brokers, and trades coal through offices in China, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
  In 2017, Peabody recorded sales of 191.5 million tons of coal. Peabody markets coal to electricity generating and industrial customers in more than 25 nations on six continents.  As of December 31, 2017, the company had approximately 5.2 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves.
  Peabody maintains ownership of majority interests in 23 surface and underground mining operations located throughout the United States and Australia. In the United States, company-owned mines are located in Alabama, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois, and Indiana.  Peabody's largest operation is the North Antelope Rochelle Mine located in Campbell County, Wyoming, which mined more than 92 million tons of coal in 2016. Peabody spun off coal mining operations in West Virginia and Kentucky into Patriot Coal Corporation in October 2007. In October 2011, Peabody acquired a majority ownership stake in Queensland-based Macarthur Coal Ltd, which specializes in the production of metallurgical coal, primarily seaborne pulverized injection coal.
  After being named to Fortune Magazine's list of America's Most Admired Companies in 2008, Peabody saw $787 million of losses, was removed from S&P 500, and had its ratings downgraded to "underperform" and "negative" by Goldman Sachs, Standard & Poor, Bank of America, and others in 2014. Despite this, Peabody earned Energy Company of the Year and CEO of the Year at the 2014 Platts Global Energy Awards.
  The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 13, 2016. The company emerged from bankruptcy on April 3, 2017, and started trading on NYSE with a ticker symbol BTU. It also changed the company logo from Peabody Energy to just Peabody. Peabody ranked at No. 491 on the Fortune 500 list released in 2018. It was ranked as the 12th most polluting company on earth by the Guardian in 2019.
caption: Peabody's North Antelope Rochelle Coal Mine, Wyoming in 2005, from ISS. A portion of Arch Coal's Black Thunder Mine Complex is visible to north (left).
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