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History
The story of Alliance Resource Partners, L.P., begins in 1971 when MAPCO Inc., a Fortune 500 diversified energy company at that time, entered the coal production business and acquired the Dotiki mine. This underground operation in Webster County, Kentucky, soon became one of the most productive coal mines in the country.
By the time the company reached its silver anniversary, MAPCO Coal owned five mining complexes in three states — Kentucky, Illinois and Maryland. It also had a rail-to-barge loading terminal on the Ohio River. Located in Indiana, the transloading facility is capable of handling 8 million tons of coal per year.
In 1996 management formed Alliance Coal Corporation and led a buyout of MAPCO Inc.'s coal operations. Within two years, Alliance acquired Hopkins County Coal, a surface/underground operation in Hopkins County , Kentucky and opened MC Mining, an underground mine in East Kentucky. By the end of 1998, Alliance sold 15.1 million tons of coal and was recognized as the sixth largest coal producer in the eastern United States.
During 1999, Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. was formed and completed its initial public offering as a publicly-traded master limited partnership. ARLP's operations company, Alliance Coal, soon broke ground for a new underground mining complex, Gibson County Coal, in Gibson County, Indiana. Production began there the following year.
ARLP began a $30 million extension of its Pattiki mine in southern Illinois during 2000. Construction of a new mine shaft and ancillary facilities was kicked off during 2001 at the Dotiki mining complex. Both of these projects were completed during the second quarter of 2003 and have positioned Alliance Coal to better meet production demand in the future.
Management purchased all of the interests in the managing general partner and Alliance Resource Holdings after the buy-out of the Beacon Group Funds' interests during 2002. The acquisitions were not funded or secured with any of ARLP's assets.
During February 2003, a public offering of 2,538,000 common units was completed that was used in part to purchase Warrior Coal, LLC. Warrior operates an underground mining complex located near Madisonville, in Hopkins County, Kentucky, between and adjacent to the other western Kentucky operations.
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