ST. LOUIS, April 26, 2012-- Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE: ACI) today announced that Paul A. Lang has been elected executive vice president and chief operating officer. Lang previously held the position of executive vice president, operations. Lang will report to John W. Eaves, who was elected president and chief executive officer, as previously announced.

"Paul has a successful 28-year track record of driving operational excellence at Arch Coal," said Eaves. "I can think of no better leader than Paul to succeed me as chief operating officer." Lang will report to Eaves.

Since joining Arch in 1984, Lang has held various engineering, operations and management positions in both the eastern and western United States, including president and general manager of Arch's Powder River Basin and southern Wyoming operations from 1998 to 2005.

Lang graduated from the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla) in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in mining engineering and also is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. In addition, Lang was honored with a professional degree in mining engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He is a licensed professional engineer in six states and serves on the Society of Mining Engineers professional registration committee. Lang serves on the University of Wyoming's School of Energy Resources Council and on the board of the Mining Department of the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He is also a past commissioner of the Wyoming Healthcare Commission

U.S.-based Arch Coal, Inc. is a top five global coal producer and marketer, with 155 million tons of coal sold in 2011. Arch is the most diversified American coal company, with more than 20 active mining complexes across every major U.S. coal supply basin. Its core business is supplying cleaner-burning, low-sulfur thermal and metallurgical coal to power generators and steel manufacturers on five continents. In 2011, Arch continued to lead the U.S. coal industry in safety performance and environmental compliance among large, diversified producers.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains "forward-looking statements" – that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," or "will." Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, particular uncertainties arise from changes in the demand for our coal by the domestic electric generation industry; from legislation and regulations relating to the Clean Air Act and other environmental initiatives; from operational, geological, permit, labor and weather-related factors; from fluctuations in the amount of cash we generate from operations; from future integration of acquired businesses; and from numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. For a description of some of the risks and uncertainties that may affect our future results, you should see the risk factors described from time to time in the reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.