Quest Completes Acquisition of Gwenco & Appoints Albert Anderson to Its Board of Directors; The Wall Street Journal Notes `Coal is Suddenly Hot Again'.
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Apr 28, 2004
Quest Completes Acquisition of Gwenco & Appoints Albert Anderson to Its Board of Directors; The Wall Street Journal Notes `Coal is Suddenly Hot Again'.
BELFRY, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 2004: Quest Minerals and Mining Corp. (OTC BB: QMMG), a Utah corporation, today announced that it has signed and closed its acquisition of Gwenco Inc., and appointed former Gwenco principal Albert Anderson to its board of directors. Quest acquires and operates energy and mineral-related properties in eastern Kentucky, southwestern West Virginia, and western Virginia.
The finalized Gwenco transaction includes the issuance of 1.6 million shares of Series B convertible preferred equity with a \$2.50 per share liquidation preference, and the assumption of up to \$1.8 million of Gwenco liabilities. Through this acquisition, Quest gains over 700 acres of coal leases, with 12,999,000 tons of coal in place in six seams. Quest plans to re-open Gwenco's two former drift mines at Pond Creek and Lower Cedar Grove shortly -- with commercial coal production expected to begin by the end of June 2004.
Coal produced at these mines will be sold to public utility companies in eastern Kentucky and southern Ohio. In an extensive front-page story earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that coal-fired electricity plants are making "an unexpected comeback" and that "Coal has gained momentum as doubts have emerged about the affordability and dependability of natural-gas supplies." (Complete article at http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108077181849670686,00.html)
Albert Anderson Joins Quest Board
"We enthusiastically welcome Albert Anderson's 30 years of Kentucky and West Virginia coal operations experience to our board of directors," said William "Randy" Wheeler, CEO of Quest. "His knowledge and familiarity of the industry and area will serve us well as we extend our coal mining operations and continue to pursue our strategic acquisition plans."
Anderson acquired Gwenco in 1995, and managed Lower Cedar Grove and Pond Creek from 1997 to 2001. Previously, Anderson operated the Docks Creek River Terminal in Kanova, West Virginia for Arco from 1983 to 1985. He acquired the Docks Creek River Terminal from Arco in 1985 and ran it for 4 years before selling it to Arch Minerals in 1989.
"It has been a long-time goal to restart production at Pond Creek and Lower Cedar Grove, and we could not have done it without Quest as a partner," said Anderson. "Their operational expertise, corporate resources, and marketing focus were crucial in my decision to join their team. I look forward to helping re-open these mines and assisting Quest with additional expansion through smart acquisitions."
"The Pond Creek seam with its low sulfur has long been the staple of compliance coal in Eastern Kentucky. By reopening this mine, we have nearly 3 million tons of recoverable premium compliance coal with additional reserves possible. Some brokers refer to it as 'compliance sweetener coal', as it can be used to blend inferior coals."
Further information about Quest Minerals and Mining can be found on the Web at: www.questminerals.com
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Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute ``forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements which explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with the terms "believes,'' "belief,'' "expects,'' "intends,'' "anticipates,'' "will,'' or "plans'' to be uncertain and forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the Company's reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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