Walter Energy, Inc. was a publicly traded "pure play" metallurgical coal producer for the global steel industry. The company also produced

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

, steam

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

and industrial

, anthracite, metallurgical coke, and coal bed methane gas. Corporate and U.S. headquarters were located in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, and its Canadian & UK headquarters in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. Walter Energy filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and its assets were purchased by Warrior Met Coal.

Divisions

U.S.

The company's U.S. underground mines produced high-quality

from Alabama's Blue Creek seam. Jim Walter Resources, the Company's U.S. underground coal mining unit, has grown from a small producer of less than 1 million tons of coal per year, produced solely for use in its sister company's coke ovens, into one of the 25 largest coal metallurgical coal producers in the United States, with 2010 metallurgical coal sales of approximately 6.0 million metric tons and plans to expand sales to 8.5 million metric tons of metallurgical coal by 2013. Its metallurgical coal mines, No. 4 and No. 7, are two of the deepest vertical shaft coal mines in North America at nearly 2,000 feet deep. The mines also produce a significant quantity of coal bed methane gas. Jim Walter Resources also operates the North River steam coal mine. The U.S. Division operates the Maple Coal and Gauley Eagle mines in West Virginia, and mines in

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. These mines were formerly owned by Western Coal Corp. Walter Minerals, an Alabama-based surface coal producer with a capacity of nearly 1.5 million tons, which produces coal for the Alabama steam and industrial coal markets, also is included in the Company's U.S. operations. Walter Coke, the company's fuel coke producer, manufactures coke for use in blast furnaces and foundries. The

company was formerly known as Sloss Industries.

Canada and U.K.

Walter Energy's Canadian and European operations consist of three mines in British Columbia, Canada and a project in Wales at Aberpergwm, UK.

History

The company was formerly known as Walter Industries, Inc. and changed its name to Walter Energy in April 2009. The predecessor company was founded by Tampa entrepreneur the late James W. Walter Sr. in 1946 as a builder of affordable, stick-built homes across the southeast. It spun off Mueller Water Products in 2006, closed Jim Walter Homes in 2009, also spinning off Walter Investment Management Corporation in 2009.

2001 mine disaster

At approximately 5:15 p.m. on September 23, 2001, at the Jim Walter Resources No. 5

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

in Brookwood, 40 miles southwest of Birmingham, a cave-in caused a release of methane gas that sparked two major explosions, killing thirteen miners.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Walter Energy's Website
Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Coal companies of the United States Companies based in Birmingham, Alabama Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015