ST. LOUIS, Aug. 10, 2011 -- The board of directors of Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE: ACI) today announced that Paul A. Lang has been elected executive vice president, operations, for the corporation. Lang previously held the position of senior vice president, operations.

"Paul has played an instrumental role in Arch's growth and development initiatives," said John W. Eaves, Arch's president and chief operating officer. "Arch's mining operations have repeatedly set the industry standard for safety, environmental performance and productivity under his direction. With Paul's leadership, we expect to continue this record of excellence at the expanded Arch Coal, which today ranks as a top five producer of thermal coal and a top 10 producer of metallurgical coal worldwide."

Lang is responsible for the safety, environmental and financial performance of all of the company's mining operations, as well as exploration, geology, land, operations planning, engineering, mine development, corporate procurement, maintenance and process improvement.

Lang has served as a member of the corporation's senior officer team, which has responsibility for strategy development, policy formation and capital allocation, since 2006. Lang will continue to 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 1998-2005.

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. He is a licensed professional engineer in six states and serves on the Society of Mining Engineers professional registration committee. Lang serves on the boards of the University of Wyoming's School of Energy Resources Council and the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

U.S.-based Arch Coal is a top five global coal producer and marketer, with 179 million tons of coal sold pro forma in 2010. Arch is the most diversified American coal company, with mining complexes across every major U.S. coal supply basin. Arch's core business is supplying cleaner-burning, low-sulfur thermal and metallurgical coal to power generators and steel manufacturers on four continents.