Peabody expanding presence in Australia

Peabody Energy (BTU-N) is taking all of the Millennium coal mine in Australia.

The coal producer says it has already reached an agreement to take another 15% of the mine and plans to take the remaining .5% in the near future.

The Millennium Mine sits in Queensland Australia, and Peabody plans to take production there to three million tonnes per year, with the bulk of the coal going to India, Korea and Japan.

Peabody already had an 84.5% stake in the mine which was one of three major mines built by Peabody in 2008 as part of expansion plans driven by the need to meet market demand in Asia.

Peabody says the full acquisition of the mine will give the company greater flexibility in pursuing development projects as it expands its presence in Australia.

“Peabody is acquiring additional metallurgical coal interests at a time when both steel and coal demand is reaching new records. Peabody is the leader in seaborne coal sales among U.S.-based companies, and we expect our 10 million tons of metallurgical coal capacity to increase in coming years,” said Richard Navarre, Peabody’s president in a statement.

Peabody is the world’s largest private-sector coal company, meeting roughly 10% of U.S. electricity needs and 2% worldwide.

In New York on July 28, shares of the St. Louis-based company were up 14 to $66.58 on roughly 8 million shares traded.