Powder River Basin coal production totaled 334.4 million st in 2017, up 7.2% from 2016, according to recently posted US Mine Safety and Health Administration data. Production in 2016 declined dramatically, dropping more than 21% as cheap natural gas fomented a considerable amount of coal-to-gas switching. With higher gas prices in 2017, coal production increased, though still remains well below its peak of 490 million st in 2008. The PRB 8,800 Btu/lb mines — Cloud Peak Energy’s Antelope mine, Arch Coal’s Black Thunder mine and Peabody Energy’s North Antelope/Rochelle mine — produced 200.6 million st in 2017, up 5.3% from 2016. Production from PRB 8,400 Btu/lb mines totaled 106.6 million st, up 8.8% from 2016. The basin’s biggest mine remains Peabody’s North Antelope/Rochelle mine, which produced 101.6 million st, up 9.4% from 2016. The annual total was roughly 13.2% of all the coal mined in the US in 2017. […]