Core Advances Term Sales and Prepares Leer South Restart Amid Long-Term Met Coal Strength

Core Natural Resources' Q1 reports its unchanged 2025 metallurgical coal sales guidance at 7.5–8.0 million short tons, in line with historical levels. As of March 31, 2025, Core had 2.9 mmst committed and priced @ $122.38/st, up from 1.5 mmst @ $135.82/st as of December. While the fixed price is lower, the tonnage increase reflects the natural progression of price finalization on long-term contracts, consistent with Core’s term-focused sales model.

Committed but unpriced volumes declined from 5.1 mmst to 4.3 mmst, while uncommitted volumes remained below 1 mmst, which is typical given Core’s low reliance on spot market sales. Rather than signaling market caution, this mix reflects Core’s disciplined contract strategy, designed to secure high-volume, multi-quarter deals with key steel customers—particularly in Asia.

A key operational milestone is the upcoming restart of Leer South’s longwall system by mid-2025, following successful containment of a combustion incident. Development work is ahead of schedule and is expected to boost longwall productivity for future panels.

Looking ahead, Core is well-positioned to benefit from structural tailwinds:

Global seaborne met coal demand is projected to exceed 11 billion tons by 2050, driven by India and Southeast Asia’s blast furnace expansion.

Core remains a first-quartile cost producer with ~25% global market share in High-Vol A coal, a premium blending product.

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