GILLETTE, Wyo. (July 23, 2012) -- Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) today announced that its Thunder Basin Coal Company's Coal Creek mine has earned the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute's (RMCMI) 2012 Safety Award for achieving superior safety results among small surface mines operating in eight western states.

"The Coal Creek team abides by a culture that places safety as the number one value in the workplace," said Jim Opfer, Coal Creek's general manager. "It's an honor to be recognized for our company's commitment to safety and our employees' dedication to making their workplace a safe environment."

The RMCMI award recognizes Coal Creek as the safest small surface mine based on the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) strictest standards. During the calendar year 2011, Coal Creek employees worked a total of 312,116 hours to ship 10 million tons of coal with zero lost-time safety incidents. The U.S. national average is 2.44 lost-time incidents per 200,000 employee-hours, according to MSHA data.

In all, Coal Creek mine has surpassed 2 million employee-hours without a lost-time incident and has operated more than two years without a reportable incident.

"Coal Creek mine's total zero incident rate puts you at the head of your industry peers," said Judy Colgan, executive director of RMCMI. "Your continued safety performance is truly remarkable and deserves this recognition. Congratulations to all the employees at Coal Creek on winning the award."

U.S.-based Arch Coal, Inc.is a top five global coal producer and marketer, with 157 million tons of coal sold in 2011. Arch is the most diversified American coal company, with 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.