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Note 7 - Commitments and Contingencies | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2024
Notes To Financial Statements |
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES. | NOTE 7—COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Environmental Liabilities—Environmental liabilities are recognized when the expenditures are considered probable and can be reasonably estimated. Measurement of liabilities is based on currently enacted laws and regulations, existing technology, and undiscounted site-specific costs. Generally, such recognition would coincide with a commitment to a formal plan of action. No amounts have been recognized for environmental liabilities. Surety Bond—In accordance with state laws, we are required to post reclamation bonds to assure that reclamation work is completed. We also have a smaller amount of surety bonds that secure performance obligations. Bonds outstanding at March 31, 2024 totaled approximately $30.2 million. Coal Leases and Associated Royalty Commitments—We lease coal reserves under agreements that require royalties to be paid as the coal is mined and sold. Many of these agreements require minimum annual royalties to be paid regardless of the amount of coal mined and sold. Total royalty expenses were $6.8 million and $9.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and March 31, 2023, respectively. These agreements generally have terms running through exhaustion of all the mineable and merchantable coal covered by the respective lease. Royalties or throughput payments are based on a percentage of the gross selling price received for the coal we mine. Contingent Transportation Purchase Commitments—We secure the ability to transport coal through rail contracts and export terminals that are sometimes funded through take-or-pay arrangements. As of March 31, 2024, the Company’s remaining commitments under take-or-pay arrangements totaled $30.7 million, the majority of which relates to a multi-year contract with a total remaining commitment of $19.4 million over the remaining four years. The level of these commitments will generally be reduced at a per ton rate as such rail and export terminal services are utilized against the required minimum tonnage amounts over the contract term stipulated in such rail and export terminal contracts. However, as of March 31, 2024, the Company has accrued a $1.4 million liability for the shortfall associated with the first year’s annual commitment in the multi-year contract, which is included in the total remaining commitment above. The accrued liability for the expected shortfall was $0.8 million at December 31, 2023. Litigation—From time to time, we are subject to various litigation and other claims in the normal course of business. No amounts have been accrued in the consolidated financial statements with respect to any matters. On November 5, 2018, one of our three raw coal storage silos that fed our Elk Creek plant experienced a partial structural failure. A temporary conveying system completed in late-November 2018 restored approximately 80% of our plant capacity. We completed a permanent belt workaround and restored the preparation plant to its full processing capacity in mid-2019. Our insurance carrier, Federal Insurance Company, disputed our claim for coverage based on certain exclusions to the applicable policy and, therefore, on August 21, 2019, we filed suit against Federal Insurance Company and Chubb INA Holdings, Inc. in Logan County Circuit Court in West Virginia seeking a declaratory judgment that the partial silo collapse was an insurable event and to require coverage under our policy. Defendants removed the case to the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, and upon removal, we substituted ACE American Insurance Company as a defendant in place of Chubb INA Holdings, Inc. The trial in the matter commenced on June 29, 2021, in Charleston, West Virginia. On July 15, 2021, the jury returned a verdict in our favor for $7.7 million in contract damages and on July 16, 2021, made an additional award of $25.0 million for damages for wrongful denial of the claim under Hayseeds, Inc. v. State Farm Fire & Cas., 177 W. Va. 323, 352 S.E. 2d 73 (W. Va. 1986), including inconvenience and aggravation. On August 12, 2021, the defendants filed a post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law or in the alternative to alter or amend the judgment or for a new trial. On March 4, 2022, the court entered its memorandum opinion and order on the motion reducing the jury award to a total of $1.8 million, including pre-judgment interest, and also vacated and set aside, in its entirety, the jury award of Hayseeds damages. The same day, the court entered the judgment in accordance with the memorandum opinion and order. On April 1, 2022, we filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. On July 20, 2023, the court rendered a decision reinstating the jury’s $7.7 million contract damages verdict. The court further determined that we are entitled to attorney’s fees in an amount to be determined on remand. Finally, the court held that we are entitled to Hayseeds damages for wrongful denial of the claim but remanded for a new trial on the amount of such damages after affirming that the original $25 million award was excessive. On August 3, 2023, the Defendants-Appellees filed a Petition of Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc with the Fourth Circuit. The petition was denied by order dated August 15, 2023. On August 29, 2023, the court clarified that the amount of attorney’s fees to be determined on remand included appellate fees. On September 8, 2023, the court entered its amended judgment, which awarded post-judgment interest on the previously awarded and reinstated verdict related to contract (compensatory) damages and the Fourth Circuit thereafter issued its mandate on October 2, 2023. The matter is now pending before the District Court for a new trial on damages for inconvenience and aggravation as well as the court’s determination and award of attorney’s fees. The defendants fully paid during 2023 the portion of the judgment related to contract (compensatory) damages in the court’s order and that portion of the matter is considered closed.

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