Patriot Coal Corp. said Tuesday it agreed to sell 1.5 million tons of metallurgical coal to steel mills in the Pacific Rim region.
Patriot said the coal will be delivered from April 2010 through early 2011 and will come from the Panther and Winchester mines in West Virginia.
The company said it may have opportunities to sell more coal in Asia later in the year.
As a result of the deal, Patriot said it expects to ship more than 7 million tons of metallurgical coal in 2010. That's up about 30 percent from 2009.
In afternoon trading, Patriot stock rose 94 cents, or 4.9 percent, to $20.13.