Alpha Metallurgical Resources Inc (AMR) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to the Alpha Metallurgical Resources third quarter 2025 results conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode.

問候。歡迎參加 Alpha Metallurgical Resources 2025 年第三季業績電話會議。目前，所有參與者均處於唯讀模式。

A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. Please note this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Emily O'Quinn, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications. You may now begin.

正式演講結束後將進行問答環節。請注意，本次會議正在錄影。現在我謹將會議交給主持人，投資者關係與傳播高級副總裁艾米麗·奧奎因。現在你可以開始了。

Thank you, Rob, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, let me remind you that during our prepared remarks, our comments regarding anticipated business and financial performance contain forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those discussed.

謝謝你，羅布，大家早安。在正式開始之前，請允許我提醒各位，在我們準備好的發言稿中，我們對預期業務和財務業績的評論包含前瞻性陳述，實際結果可能與討論的內容存在重大差異。

For more information regarding forward-looking statements and some of the factors that can affect them, please refer to the company's third quarter 2025 earnings release and the associated SEC filing. Please also see these documents for information about our use of non-GAAP measures and their reconciliation to GAAP measures.

有關前瞻性聲明及其可能影響因素的更多信息，請參閱公司 2025 年第三季收益報告及相關美國證券交易委員會文件。有關我們使用非GAAP指標及其與GAAP指標的調節信息，請參閱以下文件。

Participating on the call today are Alpha's Chief Executive Officer, Andy Eidson; and our President and Chief Operating Officer, Jason Whitehead. Also participating on the call are Todd Munsey, our Chief Financial Officer; and Dan Horn, our Chief Commercial Officer.

今天參加電話會議的有 Alpha 的執行長 Andy Eidson；以及我們的總裁兼營運長 Jason Whitehead。參與此次電話會議的還有我們的財務長 Todd Munsey 和首席商務長 Dan Horn。

With that, I will turn the call over to Andy.

接下來，我會把電話交給安迪。

Thanks, Emily, and good morning, everyone. This morning, we announced our financial results for the third quarter, which include adjusted EBITDA of $41.7 million and 3.9 million tons shipped. It was another good quarter for our team. Similar to Q2, the highlight of the period is the outstanding performance on cost of coal sales.

謝謝你，艾米麗，大家早安。今天上午，我們公佈了第三季的財務業績，其中包括調整後的 EBITDA 為 4,170 萬美元，出貨量為 390 萬噸。對我們團隊來說，這又是一個不錯的季度。與第二季類似，本季的亮點是煤炭銷售成本的優異表現。

For the second quarter, we missed the sub $100 level by only $0.07. In Q3, we were able to shave almost another $3 off the prior quarter level, coming in at $97.27 per ton. We're proud to have posted the best cost of coal sales performance for the company since 2021 in back-to-back quarters. Our focus remains on finishing the year strong by continuing to safely keep costs in line.

第二季度，我們僅以 0.07 美元的差距未能突破 100 美元大關。第三季度，我們成功地將價格比上一季降低了近 3 美元，達到每噸 97.27 美元。我們很自豪地宣布，該公司連續兩個季度實現了自 2021 年以來最佳的煤炭銷售成本表現。我們將繼續專注於在確保成本可控的前提下，實現今年業績的強勁收官。

Our cost discipline is especially important as we continue navigating the current stage of the market cycle and as metallurgical coal indexes reflect softness in the market environment. Broadly, the indexes have hovered on current levels for several months with oscillated pockets of volatility. The underlying economic conditions informing steel demand around the globe remain vulnerable to uncertainty and lackluster economic growth expectations.

在我們持續應對當前市場週期階段以及冶金煤指數反映出市場環境疲軟的情況下，我們的成本控制尤其重要。整體而言，各指數已在目前水準附近徘徊數月，期間出現零星波動。影響全球鋼鐵需求的潛在經濟狀況仍然容易受到不確定性和經濟成長預期疲軟的影響。

Against this backdrop, we're in the process of planning for 2026, putting together budgets and anticipating what we believe could be another challenging year for the coal industry. At the same time, we remain in discussions with our North American customers about domestic sales commitments for next year.

在此背景下，我們正在製定 2026 年的計劃，編制預算，並預計我們認為煤炭行業可能又將面臨充滿挑戰的一年。同時，我們仍在與北美客戶商討明年的國內銷售承諾。

With those conversations and budget planning still in progress, we're not quite yet ready to issue guidance for 2026. Once domestic negotiations conclude and we have greater visibility into the coming year, we will share additional information about our expectations and guidance.

由於相關討​​論和預算規劃仍在進行中，我們目前還無法發布 2026 年的指導意見。一旦國內談判結束，我們對來年有了更清晰的了解，我們將分享更多關於我們的預期和指導的資訊。

Until then, we will keep working hard to manage costs, operate safely and effectively, and finish 2025 on a strong note. I'll now turn the call over to Todd for additional information on our third quarter financial results.

在此之前，我們將繼續努力控製成本，安全有效地運營，力爭在 2025 年取得佳績。現在我將把電話交給托德，讓他提供更多關於我們第三季財務表現的資訊。

Thanks, Andy. Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $41.7 million, down from $46.1 million in the second quarter. We sold 3.9 million tons in Q3, same amount as in Q2.

謝謝你，安迪。第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 4,170 萬美元，低於第二季的 4,610 萬美元。第三季我們售出了390萬噸，與第二季銷量相同。

Met segment realizations decreased quarter over quarter with an average realization of $114.94 in the third quarter, down from $119.43 in Q2. Export met ton priced against Atlantic indices and other pricing mechanisms in the third quarter realized $107.25 per ton, while export coal priced on Australian indices realized $106.39 per ton. These results are compared to realizations of $113.82 per ton and $109.75 respectively in the second quarter.

大都會板塊的實現價格環比下降，第三季的平均實現價格為 114.94 美元，低於第二季的 119.43 美元。第三季度，以大西洋指數和其他定價機制定價的出口金屬價格為每噸 107.25 美元，而以澳洲指數定價的出口煤炭價格為每噸 106.39 美元。這些結果與第二季度每噸 113.82 美元和 109.75 美元的實際價格相比。

The realization of our metallurgical sales in Q3 was a total weighted average of $117.62 per ton, down from $122.84 per ton in Q2. Realizations in the incidental thermal portion of the met segment increased to $81.64 per ton in Q3, as compared to $78.01 per ton in the second quarter.

第三季冶金產品銷售額的加權平均值為每噸 117.62 美元，低於第二季的每噸 122.84 美元。第三季度，冶金業附帶熱能部分的實現價格增至每噸 81.64 美元，而第二季為每噸 78.01 美元。

Cost of coal sales for our Met segment decreased to $97.27 per ton in the third quarter, down from $100.06 per ton in Q2. SG&A, excluding non-cash stock compensation and non-recurring items, increased to $13.20 million for the third quarter, as compared to $11.90 million in the second quarter. CapEx for the quarter was $25.10 million, down from $34.60 million in Q2.

第三季度，我們冶金業務部門的煤炭銷售成本降至每噸 97.27 美元，低於第二季的每噸 100.06 美元。第三季銷售、一般及行政費用（不包括非現金股票補償和非經常性項目）增至 1,320 萬美元，而第二季為 1,190 萬美元。本季資本支出為 2,510 萬美元，低於第二季的 3,460 萬美元。

Moving to the balance sheet and cash flows. As of September 30, 2025, we had $408.50 million in unrestricted cash and $49.40 million in short-term investments, as compared to $449 million of unrestricted cash as of June 30.

接下來來看資產負債表和現金流量表。截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日，我們有 4.085 億美元的非限制性現金和 4,940 萬美元的短期投資，而截至 6 月 30 日，我們的非限制性現金為 4.49 億美元。

We had $185.50 million in unused availability under our ABL at the end of the third quarter, partially offset by a minimum required liquidity of $75 million. As of the end of September, Alpha had total liquidity of $568.50 million, up from $556.90 million at the end of June.

截至第三季末，我們的 ABL 帳戶中還有 1.855 億美元的未使用可用資金，但部分被 7,500 萬美元的最低流動資金要求所抵銷。截至 9 月底，Alpha 的總流動資金為 5.685 億美元，高於 6 月底的 5.569 億美元。

Cash provided by operating activities was $50.60 million in Q3, down from $53.20 million in the second quarter. As of September 30, our ABL facility had no borrowings, and $39.50 million of letters of credit outstanding.

第三季經營活動產生的現金流量為 5,060 萬美元，低於第二季的 5,320 萬美元。截至 9 月 30 日，我們的 ABL 融資安排中沒有借款，未償信用證金額為 3,950 萬美元。

With additional visibility into remaining payments for the year, we are lowering our capital contributions to equity affiliates guidance to a range of $35 million to $41 million, down from the prior range of $44 million to $54 million. In terms of our committed position for 2025 at the midpoint of guidance, 85% of our metallurgical tonnage in the Met segment is committed and priced at an average price of $122.57. Another 13% of our Met tonnage for the year is committed but not yet priced.

由於對今年剩餘付款情況有了更清晰的了解，我們將對權益關聯公司的資本投入預期從先前的 4,400 萬美元至 5,400 萬美元下調至 3,500 萬美元至 4,100 萬美元。就我們2025年的承諾供應量（以指導中位數計算）而言，我們在冶金板塊的冶金噸位中，85%已確定供應量，平均價格為122.57美元。另有13%的冶金噸位已確定供應量，但尚未定價。

The thermal byproduct portion of the Met segment is fully committed and priced at the midpoint of guidance at an average price of $80.27. I'll now turn the call over to Jason to provide an update on operations.

Met業務板塊的熱能副產品部分已全部售罄，定價為指導價的中點，平均價格為80.27美元。現在我將把電話會議交給Jason，讓他介紹一下營運狀況。

Thanks, Todd, and good morning, everyone. Last quarter, I spoke to the cost reduction efforts carried out in Q2 being twofold.

謝謝你，托德，大家早安。上個季度，我談到了第二季度實施的成本削減措施，這些措施主要體現在兩個方面。

A 10% increase over Q1 and tons per man hour that lowered labor and other fixed costs, and the team's achieving these efficiency gains while reducing supply and maintenance expenses. I'm pleased to report on the operations team's continued success in managing cost and increasing tons per man-hour again by another 2%. Q3 marks the second quarter in a row of record quarterly cost performance since 2021 at $97.27 per ton.

與第一季相比成長了 10%，每人每小時產量提高了噸數，降低了勞動力和其他固定成本，而且團隊在降低供應和維護費用的同時實現了這些效率提升。我很高興地報告，營運團隊在控製成本方面繼續取得成功，並且每人每小時的產量再次提高了 2%。第三季是自 2021 年以來連續第二季創下季度成本紀錄，達到每噸 97.27 美元。

In addition to the very positive cost performance by operations in the quarter, I'm pleased to report strong progress on our new low-vol mine, Kingston Wildcat. The slope development is complete and has intercepted the coal seam.

除了本季營運成本表現非常積極之外，我很高興地報告，我們的新低揮發性礦石礦——金斯頓野貓礦——也取得了強勁進展。邊坡開發完成，並已截獲煤層。

We are now in development production, working our way toward the areas where we will install ventilation shafts and dewatering shafts. While we plan to short tag this coal, this raw coal to our mammoth facility to leverage our existing preparation plant, we've also been working hard at building out the supporting infrastructures of the Wildcat mine like building, loading, and offloading infrastructure to help move the coal where it needs to go.

我們現在正處於開發生產階段，逐步向我們將要安裝通風豎井和排水豎井的區域推進。雖然我們計劃將這批煤炭（即原煤）短運到我們的大型工廠，以充分利用我們現有的選煤廠，但我們也一直在努力建設野貓煤礦的配套基礎設施，例如建築、裝卸基礎設施，以幫助將煤炭運送到需要的地方。

Development production will continue through the rest of the year, and we expect to ramp up to a full annual run rate of roughly 1 million tons sometime within the 2026 calendar year. Lastly, I'd like to congratulate our Virginia teams on some recent outstanding safety and environmental achievements. First, the Virginia Department of Energy Coal Mine Safety Awards. And those were awarded to Paramount Contura Deep Mine 41, the McClure Preparation plant, both 88 Strip, and 88 Strips Highwall Miner, the Long Branch Surface Mine and high wall miner, and our Three Forks highwall miner.

開發生產將持續到今年年底，我們預計在 2026 年內達到約 100 萬噸的年產量。最後，我要祝賀維吉尼亞州的團隊最近在安全和環境方面取得了一些傑出的成就。首先是維吉尼亞州能源部煤礦安全獎。這些獎項分別授予了 Paramount Contura 41 號深礦、McClure 選礦廠、88 號露天礦和 88 號露天高壁礦、Long Branch 露天礦和高壁礦，以及我們的 Three Forks 高壁礦。

On the environmental side, the Met Coal Producers Association awarded our Toms Creek Preparation Plant, the Best Active Prep Plant Award. And our StoneCoal Mine was awarded Best Reclaimed Underground Mine. Congrats again to all those involved in the safe and hard work that's behind these accomplishments.

在環保方面，冶金煤炭生產商協會授予我們的湯姆斯溪選煤廠「最佳在用選煤廠獎」。我們的斯通科爾礦榮獲最佳復墾地下礦獎。再次恭喜所有為取得這些成就付出辛勤努力和保障安全的人們。

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Dan for some details on the market.

接下來，我會把電話交給丹，讓他詳細介紹市場狀況。

Thanks, Jason. Good morning, everyone. As steel demand remains subdued, metallurgical coal markets experienced slight fluctuations during the third quarter but have been largely range bound over the prior 6-month period. The global economic outlook continues to be clouded with uncertainty surrounding policy changes, geopolitical unrest, tariffs, and ongoing trade negotiations and shifting trade policies. Future steel demand and metallurgical pricing will also be impacted by these factors.

謝謝你，傑森。各位早安。由於鋼鐵需求依然疲軟，冶金煤市場在第三季經歷了輕微波動，但在先前的6個月裡基本上處於區間波動。全球經濟前景依然籠罩在政策變化、地緣政治動盪、關稅、持續進行的貿易談判以及不斷變化的貿易政策等諸多不確定因素的影響之下。未來鋼鐵需求和冶金價格也將受到這些因素的影響。

Of the four indices that Alpha closely monitors, the Australian Premium Low-Vol Index represented the most significant move during the quarter, an increase of 9.6%. The Australian PLV index rose from $173.50 per metric ton on July 1, to $190.20 per metric ton on September 30.

在 Alpha 密切關注的四個指數中，澳洲優質低波動率指數在本季表現最為顯著，上漲了 9.6%。澳洲PLV指數從7月1日的每公噸173.50美元上漲至9月30日的每公噸190.20美元。

The US East Coast Low-Vol index increased from $174 per metric ton at the beginning of the quarter to $177 per metric ton at quarter close. The East Coast High-Vol A index fell from $159 per metric ton in July to $152.50 per metric ton at the end of September. And finally, the US East Coast High-Vol B index decreased from $147 per metric ton to $144.50 per metric ton at quarter end.

美國東海岸低波動率指數從季度初的每公噸 174 美元上漲至季度末的每公噸 177 美元。東海岸高波動率A指數從7月的每噸159美元跌至9月底的每噸152.50美元。最後，美國東岸高波動率B指數在季末從每公噸147美元降至每公噸144.50美元。

Since the quarter close, all three US indices have either remained flat or trended downward, while the Australian PLV has increased to $196.50 as of November 4. US East Coast Low-Vol index was $177.50 while High-Vol A and High-Vol B indices measured $150 and $140 per ton respectively as of the same date.

自季度末以來，美國三大股指均保持平穩或呈下降趨勢，而截至 11 月 4 日，澳洲 PLV 指數已上漲至 196.50 美元。截至同日，美國東岸低波動性指數為每噸 177.50 美元，而高波動性 A 指數和高波動率 B 指數分別為每噸 150 美元和 140 美元。

In the Seaborne thermal market, the API 2 index was $107.95 per metric ton as of July 1 and decreased to $95.40 per metric ton on September 30. And since then, the API 2 has increased to $100.70 per metric ton as of November 4.

在海運熱能市場，截至 7 月 1 日，API 2 指數為每公噸 107.95 美元，至 9 月 30 日下降至每公噸 95.40 美元。此後，截至 11 月 4 日，API 2 的價格已上漲至每公噸 100.70 美元。

Turning to logistics, we've been working alongside officials at CSX to understand the implications of a train derailment that occurred on October 25. While the train was not carrying Alpha's cargo, the derailment occurred on an important rail line used to access Dominion Terminal Associates, where the majority of our exports originate.

就物流而言，我們一直在與 CSX 的官員合作，以了解 10 月 25 日發生的火車脫軌事故的影響。雖然這列火車沒有運載 Alpha 公司的貨物，但脫軌事故發生在通往 Dominion Terminal Associates 的重要鐵路線上，而我們的大部分出口貨物都是從那裡發出的。

Our team members have notified customers of potential for impacts depending on how quickly the railroad can reinstate service. In the meantime, we continue to fulfill shipments from our stockpiles at DTA, and we're actively investigating alternative opportunities that could help keep our coal moving on its way to customers if the outage would extend for a prolonged period of time. We remain in close contact with the railroad and their teams, and we look forward to the rail line being fully operational in the coming days.

我們的團隊成員已通知客戶，根據鐵路恢復服務的速度，可能會產生一定影響。同時，我們繼續從DTA的庫存中發貨，並且我們正在積極探索其他機會，以幫助我們的煤炭在停運持續較長時間的情況下繼續運往客戶。我們與鐵路公司及其團隊保持密切聯繫，並期待鐵路在未來幾天內全面恢復營運。

Lastly, we are still engaged in discussions about the sale of coal to North American customers in 2026. Given the ongoing nature of these negotiations, I do not have any additional details about the volume or pricing that will make up Alpha's domestic sales book for next year. However, after these negotiations conclude, we will share more information about our domestic commitments and guidance expectations for the coming year, as we typically do.

最後，我們仍在與北美客戶討論 2026 年向北美客戶出售煤炭的事宜。鑑於這些談判仍在進行中，我沒有關於 Alpha 明年國內銷售訂單量或定價的任何其他細節。不過，談判結束後，我們將像往常一樣，分享更多關於我們未來一年的國內承諾和業績預期方面的資訊。

Operator, we are now ready to open the call for questions.

接線員，我們現在可以開始接受提問了。

Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。屆時我們將進行問答環節。（操作說明）

Nick Giles, B. Riley Securities.

Nick Giles，B. Riley Securities。

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Andy, Jason, you and the team have done a really impressive job of cutting costs during this down cycle and we know there will be a modest incremental benefit from 45x in the new year, but my question is ultimately, how should we think about the sustainability of some of these cuts? There's always sales sensitive components on the way up, but just would appreciate any additional perspective on how productivity could shift if prices really start to move here.

謝謝接線生。各位早安。Andy、Jason，你和你的團隊在經濟下行週期中出色地完成了削減成本的工作，我們知道在新的一年裡，45倍的利潤將會帶來適度的增量收益，但我的問題是，最終我們應該如何看待這些削減措施的可持續性？價格上漲過程中總是會有一些對銷售比較敏感的因素，但我很想知道，如果價格真的開始上漲，生產力可能會發生怎樣的變化。

Hey Nick, this is Andy. I'll let Jason have the bulk of this one, but I mean, generally speaking, you're right, there's going to be some volatility quarter to quarter, obviously going into Q4, when you have vacation periods that usually creates a little bit of chaos around cost and production, but, I mean that's usually baked into expectations.

嘿，尼克，我是安迪。我會把大部分內容交給傑森來討論，但我的意思是，總的來說，你說得對，每個季度都會有一些波動，尤其是在進入第四季度時，因為有假期，這通常會在成本和生產方面造成一些混亂，但我的意思是，這通常都在預期之內。

But I would just pause for a moment to again congratulate the operations team. Jason and his crew have done an amazing job over the past several quarters continually ratcheting those costs down while maintaining our safe production mantra, which is above all important to us. So exceptional work there. Jason, any comments on (multiple speakers).

但我還是要停下來片刻，再次祝賀營運團隊。在過去的幾個季度裡，Jason 和他的團隊出色地完成了工作，不斷降低成本，同時堅持我們安全生產的原則，這對我們來說至關重要。真是出色的工作。Jason，你對此有什麼看法？（多位發言者）

No. I mean, that's right, Andy. I will say that I think, well, number one, there's always -- we always run a risk of unforeseen geologic problems that could occur, whether it's us or any of our competitors. But generally speaking, I think the mines are in a better place than they were maybe earlier in the year.

不。沒錯，安迪。我想說的是，首先，我們總是會面臨發生無法預料的地質問題的風險，無論是我們還是我們的競爭對手。但總的來說，我認為礦山的狀況比今年早些時候要好。

We had planned development projects that were going on that are now behind us. So we still -- we have the problems with vacation shutdowns and things like that that we always see in the fourth quarter, but you know we're hopeful to largely offset a lot of that because the mines are just performing better, but it was planned that way.

我們之前計劃的一些開發項目現在已經結束了。所以我們仍然會遇到假期停工之類的問題，這些問題在第四季度總是會出現，但你知道，我們希望能夠很大程度上抵消這些問題的影響，因為礦山的運營狀況正在好轉，但這本來就是計劃好的。

Got it. Thank you both for that. My next question was, understand that you're unable to offer much additional color on next year's domestic contracts, but if we were to look back at prior years, is there any precedent that could inform us on how much you may flex those volumes, or are there any year-over-year changes where domestic contracts were changed in excess of a million tons?

知道了。謝謝你們兩位。我的下一個問題是，我知道您無法提供關於明年國內合約的更多細節，但如果我們回顧往年，是否有任何先例可以告訴我們您可能會在多大程度上調整這些數量，或者是否有任何年度變化，導致國內合約的變動超過一百萬噸？

Yeah, Nick, this is Dan. Every year is different. I don't know, a lot of it is in the hands of our customers. They're -- the steel industry in North America is not running at full capacity, at least the blast furnace segment. So cooking coal demand will go with the hot metal production. It's a little erratic. We talked to our customers. The steel pricing is good, but the volumes aren't quite there. The automotive sector in particular. So the demand could -- will shift because of that, I would guess it's going to be similar to last year.

是的，尼克，這是丹。每年情況都不一樣。我不知道，很多事情都掌握在我們的客戶手中。北美鋼鐵業，至少高爐煉鋼領域，並沒有滿載運轉。因此，烹飪用煤的需求將與金屬熱產量同步成長。它有點不穩定。我們與客戶進行了交談。鋼材價格不錯，但銷售量還不夠理想。尤其是汽車業。因此，需求可能會——將會因此而改變，我猜想會和去年類似。

You have some new supply entrants in the market on the supply side that might try to take some market share that -- and again this is nothing new. This happens every year. So I can't really comment on a million-ton swing that seems like a lot, but until we're through the negotiations I really can't say any more than that.

市場供應端出現了一些新的供應商，他們可能會試圖搶佔一些市場份額——而這其實並不是什麼新鮮事。這種情況每年都會發生。所以，對於一百萬噸的波動，我真的無法置評，這看起來確實很大，但在談判結束之前，我真的不能說更多了。

Yeah, and I would say generally speaking, I'm looking at Dan to either nod or kick me under the table if I've got this wrong, but if you look back at our history going back to I guess post-merger 2019 we've been in as low as low-threes, and as high as you know four, and four and change in that time period. So I think that's kind of the band that we will stay range bound in.

是的，總的來說，如果我說錯了，我會看著丹要么點頭要么在桌子底下踢我一腳，但如果你回顧一下我們的歷史，從我猜想合併後的 2019 年開始，我們最低的收益率是 3 左右，最高的收益率是 4 左右，甚至更高。所以我認為我們會在這個範圍內保持穩定發展。

And then you know the details will come out as we put those together and you know there could be smaller pieces of business that come in closer to the end of the year, but you know hopefully in the next couple to three weeks, we'll have more information to share on the bulk of what the book will look like.

然後，隨著我們把這些整理好，細節也會陸續公佈。你也知道，接近年底可能還會有一些小的業務要處理，但希望在接下來的兩到三週內，我們能分享更多關於這本書主體內容的資訊。

Understood. And then maybe one more if I could. Some of your peers have come out and talked about rare earth opportunities. This has mostly occurred in the PRB, but it seems like there could be some opportunities to process some waste material at prep plants, things of that nature. Is this something you've looked into at all, or is it really less relevant just given your operations are centralized in the East?

明白了。如果可以的話，也許還會再來一個。你們的一些同行已經公開談論了稀土資源的機會。這種情況主要發生在 PRB，但似乎在選礦廠處理一些廢料之類的機會也存在。您是否考慮過這個問題？還是說，鑑於您的營運中心位於東部，這個問題其實不太重要？

Yeah, I mean that rare earth, it is the -- it's the shiny object at the moment, it's kind of the wild west as far as project announcement and evaluations. We actually have done work going back to 2014 looking at some of these items and it's been kind of a scattershot approach over the past decade.

是的，我的意思是，稀土，它目前是——它是最熱門的話題，就項目發布和評估而言，它有點像蠻荒西部。實際上，我們從 2014 年就開始研究這些問題，但在過去十年裡，我們採取的方法一直比較零散。

We've not really done a lot with it, but I mean we are spending some time, and a little bit of money, a very little bit of money looking at these opportunities. There are some areas we've probably got, as far as in the hundreds of areas to be sampled. I mean we're not under any illusion that any of this is going to drive any material economic impact simply because, again we just don't know what we don't know. But it is good to take an inventory of what we have and then also know what we don't have.

我們還沒有真正在這方面做太多工作，但我的意思是，我們正在花一些時間和一點錢（真的只是一點錢）來研究這些機會。在某些領域，我們可能已經掌握了信息，因為有數百個領域需要進行採樣。我的意思是，我們很清楚，這一切不會產生任何實質的經濟影響，因為我們仍然不知道我們不知道的事。但清點一下我們擁有什麼，然後再了解我們沒有什麼，這很有意義。

So we'll spend some, spend a little bit of time on that in the next couple of quarters and see what we have. But again, we're pretty happy mining metallurgical coal, and if something else pops up that'll be great. But that's really not our strategic intent at this moment.

所以接下來幾個季度，我們會花些時間在這上面，看看結果如何。不過話說回來，我們目前對開採冶金煤很滿意，如果以後有其他煤礦開採機會，那就太好了。但這並非我們目前的戰略意圖。

Got it. Well, thanks for that. Guys, I really appreciate all the colors as always. So continue, and best of luck.

知道了。謝謝。各位，我一如既往地喜歡這些色彩。所以，繼續努力，祝你好運。

Thank you, Nick.

謝謝你，尼克。

Nathan Martin, The Benchmark Company.

Nathan Martin，基準公司。

Thanks, operator. Good morning, gentlemen. Congrats as well on the continued cost per ton progress there. Maybe first one for Dan. Dan, you talked about the derailment on CSX's line. Is there an ETA for the full reopening of that line? And then how much more inventory do you guys have left on the ground at DTA to serve customer contracts?

謝謝接線生。早安，先生們。恭喜你們在降低每噸成本方面取得持續進展。或許這是丹的第一個。丹，你談到了CSX鐵路線上的脫軌事故。該線路全面恢復營運預計何時開始？那麼，你們DTA現場還有多少庫存可以用來履行客戶合約？

Yeah, well, actually, the good news is we've learned this morning that the first trains have moved through that area, so we expect this to be a relatively short duration. There's a whole lot of empty rail cars on one side of the derailment and a whole lot of loaded coal cars on the other side, so it'll take some amount of time to get the -- get some fluidity on the system there.

是的，其實好消息是我們今天早上得知第一批列車已經通過了該地區，所以我們預計持續時間會相對較短。脫軌事故的一側有很多空車廂，另一側有很多裝滿煤炭的車廂，所以需要一些時間才能使系統恢復暢通。

We had coal on the ground. We were able to continue loading vessels, move some things around. We're the only shipper that could ship out of all three of the Hampton Roads coal terminals, so we took advantage of that, and our team did a nice job. So it's -- as far as the inventory number, we had sufficient tons to load the customers that we had to, and just kind of kept things moving along.

地上散落著煤炭。我們得以繼續裝載船隻，並轉移一些物品。我們是唯一一家可以從漢普頓路三個煤炭碼頭發貨的貨主，所以我們利用了這個優勢，我們的團隊也做得很好。所以——就庫存數量而言，我們有足夠的噸位來滿足客戶的需求，並且一直保持生產運作。

Okay, perfect. Good to hear. Maybe just coming back real quickly to the domestic negotiations again and appreciate those are ongoing. Just curious, if fixed price contracts can't be agreed upon on the normal call it 3 million to 4 million tons you guys just highlighted, would things just move to spot negotiations at that point? Just trying to think about a situation where this has dragged on that long, meaning the negotiations with the domestic customers, just would be curious for your thoughts.

好的，完美。很高興聽到這個消息。或許我們應該迅速回到國內談判的話題上來，並意識到這些談判仍在進行中。我只是好奇，如果無法就你們剛才提到的通常的 300 萬到 400 萬噸的貨物達成固定價格合同，那麼交易是否會轉為現貨談判？我只是想思考一下，如果與國內客戶的談判持續這麼長時間，會是什麼樣的情況，所以想聽聽您的看法。

Yeah, generally, Nathan, the domestic customers all want to do fixed price one-year contracts, so there's not a lot of spot activity in that market.

是的，Nathan，一般來說，國內客戶都想簽訂一年期固定價格合同，所以這個市場上的現貨交易並不多。

So, you don't know. Spot activity usually only occurs when there's an interruption at a mine or perhaps a ramp up that they didn't foresee in coal production. But generally, it's fixed price and the volumes are pretty well known across the board.

所以，你不知道。零星作業通常只發生在礦井生產中斷或煤炭產量出現他們未預料到的激增時。但一般來說，價格是固定的，而且交易量基本上都是公開透明的。

Got it. Yeah, I mean, just to clarify, like you said Dan, I've just never seen it drag out this long, so I was just curious. But it sounds like regardless, you'll get some fixed price contracts done at some point.

知道了。是的，我的意思是，就像你說的丹，澄清一下，我只是從來沒見過這種情況持續這麼久，所以我就很好奇。但聽起來無論如何，你遲早都會簽訂一些固定價格合約。

Yeah, it -- agreed. It took -- I've been doing this a long time. We sort of started the process in July and now it's November. That is a -- in my experience it's a long time. But there's -- the steel industry's got some uncertainty too, some new acquisitions and some of the steel plants around the US have been idled and things. So it's -- I think our customers have their hands full too.

是的，同意。我花了很長時間才做到這一點。我們從七月就開始了這個流程，現在已經是十一月了。以我的經驗來看，那需要很長時間。但是，鋼鐵業也存在一些不確定性，一些新的收購案正在進行，美國各地的一些鋼鐵廠已經停產等等。所以——我覺得我們的客戶也忙得不可開交。

Got it. Thanks for those thoughts. Then maybe just one final question, pricing is getting a bit of a lift recently, as you guys highlighted, but market conditions do remain largely challenged. We also expect new net coal supply or some restarted supply to potentially come online, I guess over the next few quarters here. So, how does Alpha kind of expect to navigate these market conditions going forward?

知道了。謝謝你的建議。那麼，最後一個問題，正如你們所指出的，最近價格有所上漲，但市場狀況仍面臨很大挑戰。我們也預計，未來幾季可能會有新的淨煤炭供應或一些重啟的供應投入使用。那麼，Alpha 預計如何應對未來這些市場狀況？

Well, new mines come online, and old mines go offline. It's not new, so you know we'll navigate it. We're watching it closely. We're -- we like to think we're the supplier of choice for a lot of the customers. We do what we do pretty well, and we'll have to deal with the market forces as they are, but we're not afraid of the competition.

新礦場投產，舊礦場停產。這並非新鮮事，所以我們絕對能應付。我們正在密切關注。我們－我們喜歡認為我們是許多客戶的首選供應商。我們把我們所做的事情做得相當不錯，我們必須應對現有的市場力量，但我們並不害怕競爭。

Okay, I'll leave it there. Appreciate the time, and good luck in the fourth quarter.

好了，我就說到這裡。感謝你的時間，祝你第四季好運。

Thank you, Nate.

謝謝你，內特。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Matthew Key, Bank -- Texas Capital.

Matthew Key，銀行－德州資本。

Good morning and thank you for taking my questions. One of the big themes in the met coal market has been the spread between the US East Coast High-Vol A, High-Vol B versus the Australian benchmark. I was wondering if you could provide any color on the major factors driving that spread and whether you'd expect it to continue into 2026.

早上好，感謝您回答我的問題。冶金煤市場的一大主題是美國東岸高揮發分A煤、高揮發分B煤與澳洲基準煤之間的價差。我想請您詳細介紹一下導致這種價差擴大的主要因素，以及您是否預期這種價差會持續到 2026 年。

Yeah, Matt, this is Dan. I know a lot of people focus on that spread. I don't necessarily find it particularly relevant. We don't -- we track them both, but the relativities between the two are driven by obviously supply and demand. So the Aussie production has been okay this year, not great.

是的，馬特，這是丹。我知道很多人都關注這個價差。我並不覺得這特別相關。我們不會同時追蹤這兩者，但兩者之間的相對關係顯然是由供需關係決定的。所以今年澳洲的影視製作水準還可以，但不算優秀。

I don't really know how to answer that. We don't track that relativity exactly. Obviously if you have excess supply, it'll put pressure on the indices. What we're more hoping for and expecting is some increase in demand in '26, perhaps in Europe or some other markets, and that will affect the spread too. We see a little more demand.

我真的不知道該怎麼回答這個問題。我們並沒有精確地追蹤這種相對論。顯然，如果供應過剩，就會對指數造成壓力。我們更希望和期待的是，2026 年需求會有所成長，或許在歐洲或其他一些市場，也會影響價差。我們看到需求略有增加。

Asia is -- a lot of the PLB that's mined in Australia goes to markets like India. And the increasing demand in India should pull on that supply pretty hard. And hopefully that'll improve the indices as well.

亞洲是－澳洲開採的大量PLB礦石都銷往印度等市場。印度日益增長的需求應該會對供應造成相當大的壓力。希望這也能改善各項指數。

Got it. Thank you for that. And I was wondering if you could provide any color on CapEx expectations in 2026, any major growth capital or carryover capital that we should be thinking about heading into next year?

知道了。謝謝。我想請問您能否就 2026 年的資本支出預期提供一些信息，以及我們在明年應該考慮的任何主要增長資本或結轉資本？

No, I mean, we're not quite ready to delve into '26 yet. I think numbers are pretty well, they've stopped moving, but the only project that we have ongoing is as Jason was giving an update on Kingston Wildcat Mine which we began work on last year. There'll be some additional capital spent next year to wrap that up. And I think we've talked about that publicly.

不，我的意思是，我們還沒準備好深入探討 2026 年。我認為數字還不錯，已經停止變動了，但我們目前唯一正在進行的項目，正如傑森剛才報告的那樣，是金斯頓野貓礦，我們去年就開始了這項工作。明年還將投入一些額外資金來完成這項工作。我想我們已經公開討論過這個問題了。

The total project was roughly $80-ish million and half of that was spent this year. It'll probably be another $40-ish million to wrap that project up next year to get it up to full production. But everything else will probably be kind of standard course, but we'll get those more precise numbers out to you hopefully in the coming weeks.

該項目總投資約 8,000 萬美元，其中一半已於今年支出。明年要完成這個項目並使其全面投產，可能還需要約 4000 萬美元。但其他方面可能都會照常規進行，我們希望在接下來的幾週內能把更精確的數據告訴大家。

Great. Well, I appreciate the time and best of luck moving forward.

偉大的。感謝您抽出時間，祝福您未來一切順利。

Yeah, thank you very much.

是的，非常感謝。

Nick Giles, B. Riley Securities.

Nick Giles，B. Riley Securities。

Thanks for taking my follow-up questions. Just looking at your cash balance, you have $400 million today, a pretty nice cushion there. Just wanted to ask about how you're thinking about M&A opportunities. I think back to the tuck in of maximum rebuild. So curious if there's opportunities in your supply chain, and then just how you're looking at some of the smaller operations out there, whether those are becoming more or less attractive. Thanks.

感謝您回答我的後續問題。單看你的現金餘額，你現在有 4 億美元，這可是一筆相當可觀的緩衝資金。我想問您對併購機會的看法。我想起了最大限度的重建工作。我很好奇你們的供應鏈中是否存在機會，以及你們如何看待一些規模較小的企業，它們是否變得越來越有吸引力或越來越不吸引人。謝謝。

Yeah, I mean, we have to obviously tread carefully and soberly. Job one is always, as we've said for years, protect the franchise, maintain this as much of a cash cushion as we can during these more difficult markets, which we do think is going to be -- continue to be a protracted situation through next year, at least it feels like.

是的，我的意思是，我們顯然必須謹慎行事，保持冷靜。正如我們多年來一直強調的，首要任務始終是保護特許經營權，在這些更艱難的市場環境下盡可能保持充足的現金儲備。我們認為這種情況至少在明年還會持續很久。

We are very interested in things like maximum manufacturing, maximum transportation, these things that bring more control and cost reduction in-house. Those are a little bit more challenging to track down because they have to make sense and there have to be synergies where we're not just picking up something that we don't necessarily know how to do. But there are opportunities out there, and we continue to look at those, and evaluate those.

我們對最大限度的生產製造、最大限度的運輸等能夠帶來更多內部控制和成本降低的事情非常感興趣。這些事情比較難找到，因為它們必須合乎邏輯，而且必須有協同效應，而不是我們只是隨便做一些我們不一定知道如何做的事情。但機會依然存在，我們會繼續關注並評估這些機會。

M&A right now is pretty tough in this landscape because again cash burns a consideration, are the assets burning cash, and how do you view accretion, from whether it's EBITDA, net income, or cash flow, how do you evaluate and view those in this kind of a market? It's pretty tough. There are some opportunities, some small ones, that will kick around but it's really hard to imagine much at this very second. That's hugely material and executable.

在當前的市場環境下，併購非常困難，因為現金消耗是一個需要考慮的因素，資產是否在消耗現金，以及你如何看待增值，無論是 EBITDA、淨收入還是現金流，你如何在這種市場環境下評估和看待這些指標？這相當困難。有一些機會，一些小機會，可能會出現，但目前很難想像會有太大的發展。這意義重大且切實可行。

Hey, I appreciate that. And one more, and I promise I'll let you go. I just wanted to ask about safety procedures in this current environment. I mean, you never get as much credit when it's good, and you certainly do when it's bad. So in this government shutdown seems like MSHA is also shut down. So how are you approaching safety? And is this MSHA shutdown really having any impact on your operations?

嘿，我很感激。再來一次，我保證放你走。我只是想詢問一下目前環境下的安全規程。我的意思是，做得好的時候你得不到多少讚譽，而做得不好的時候你卻能得到很多讚譽。看來，在這次政府停擺的情況下，礦場安全與健康管理局（MSHA）也關閉了。那麼，你們是如何看待安全問題的呢？MSHA這次停工真的對你們的營運造成影響了嗎？

Well, I would say this about MSHA, and the shutdown portions of MSHA are shut down. The enforcement is still quite active. October in particular, we've had a lot of MSHA activity at the mine, so they're still very much engaged.

關於礦山安全與健康管理局（MSHA），我想說的是，MSHA 的停擺部分已經關閉了。執法力道依然很強。尤其是在十月份，礦山安全與健康管理局（MSHA）在礦區開展了許多活動，所以他們仍然非常積極地參與其中。

So from that perspective, we're not -- we're seeing no impact from I guess, less enforcement and less monitoring of safety. And naturally that's -- MSHA's actions don't drive our safety performance. We drive our safety performance. And we've had a couple of blips early in the quarter of safety performance that we weren't terribly pleased with. The team has really responded and recovered.

所以從這個角度來看，我們並沒有看到——我想，我們並沒有看到執法力度減弱和安全監控力度減弱帶來任何影響。當然，MSHA 的行動並不能決定我們的安全績效。我們致力於提升安全績效。本季初，我們的安全表現出現了一些小問題，我們對此不太滿意。球隊已經迅速做出回應並恢復了狀態。

September was the best safety month we've had this year and maybe going back years, it was an excellent month. October has been very good as well. So again, outside forces don't drive our safety, we do. And I think we're in a really good spot right now.

九月是我們今年安全措施最好的一個月，而且從往年來看，九月也是非常出色的一個月。十月也非常好。所以再次強調，決定我們安全的不是外在因素，而是我們自己。我認為我們現在處境非常好。

Guys, thanks again and keep it up.

各位，再次感謝，繼續加油！

Yeah, thanks a bunch.

是啊，非常感謝。

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call over to Andy Eidson for closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。現在我將把電話交給安迪‧艾德森，請他作總結發言。

Well, thanks again everyone for joining us today. We appreciate your interest in Alpha, and we hope you all have a great rest of the day.

再次感謝大家今天收看我們的節目。感謝您對 Alpha 的關注，並祝您今天餘下的時間愉快。

This concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束，您可以斷開線路了。感謝您的參與。