Atlantic Coal ATC.LN Heads For Record Production and Sales

Atlantic Coal plc, the AIM listed open cast coal production and processing company with activities in Pennsylvania, USA, held its Annual General Meeting earlier today, at which all of the resolutions proposed were duly passed.  At the meeting, Atlantic's Managing Director, Steve Best, made the following statement:  "We continue to make excellent progress at Stockton, where we successfully completed the diversion of the railroad to allow the working of over approximately 1.0 million tons of coal of previously unworkable reserves.  With this complete, and the introduction of new machinery (including a Komatsu PC2000 Hydraulic Excavator and a Reichdrill blasthole drill rig) our production profile, efficiencies and strip ratio have been affected positively and I am delighted to report that we are on track to produce approximately 17,000 tons of coal during June.  We anticipate that this improved production level will continue going forward and expect that this will in turn make a positive revenue contribution.  Additionally, we have experienced record daily production highs in June with up to 1,000 tons produced in a day. "At the same as looking to increase our production at Stockton, our presence in the Pennsylvanian anthracite field ideally positions us for growth and regional expansion is at the forefront of our strategy.  With this in mind, as previously announced, we have acquired options over two new sites which we believe have the potential to transform our production profile.  Due diligence at both sites continues and the Company has recently extended its lease option over the 410 acre Pott & Bannon site (announced on 3 January 2012) for a further three months.  I look forward to updating shareholders later this year. "I am confident that the current year will be a positive one for the Company during which we hope to see the benefit from our position in the US market, including through our OTC QX listing, to build Atlantic's value and prospects."