United Coal Company, LLC, one of Central Appalachia’s most innovative and progressive coal companies from the coal boom of the 1970s, has been resurrected – and just in time – for the current coal boom brought on by the international demand for steam and metallurgical coal.   

UCC left the coal industry in 1997, when the market was at a low point.  In 2004, Jim McGlothlin, chief executive officer of The United Company, a private holding company, gave UCC new life.

McGlothlin and his partners set about buying coal companies and coal reserves and established four coal producing divisions – two in West Virginia, one in Eastern Kentucky and one in Southwest Virginia.  Those four divisions now employ almost 1,200 persons and ship more than 6 million tons of steam and mid/high-volatile metallurgical coal, with production expected to increase dramatically in the near future.

UCC’s coal producing divisions include Sapphire Coal Company, Isom KY; Carter Roag Coal Company, Elkins WV; Pocahontas Coal Company, Beckley WV; and Wellmore Coal Company, Big Rock VA. 

UCC was originally organized in 1970 by Jim McGlothlin, an attorney, and seven other Buchanan County VA., partners, one of whom was his father, Woodrow McGlothlin.  The other partners included two more attorneys, brothers Nick and H. A. Street, and four others with coal leases or operational experience in mining – Alfred Moore, Dennis Compton, Burton Fletcher and Boyd Fowler.

UCC was in the right place at the right time for the coal boom precipitated by the 1973 oil embargo.  The company expanded

rapidly during that boom by increasing its coal reserves, opening additional mines and surface mines in Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky, operating coal loading docks on the Norfolk Western (now Norfolk Southern) railroad and a barge-loading facility for shipments on the Ohio River, and acquiring companies such as Dal-Tex Coal Corporation, Sharples  WV. 

UCC also operated its own fleet of coal trucks, had its own truck repair shop, utilized corporate airplanes and helicopters, launched a mine supply business, opened a safety and training center, purchased an explosives company, sold its own coal – and in 1975 – built the Wellmore No. 7 coal preparation plant at Big Rock.  The new plant began operating in early January 1976 and is now being converted into a steam coal loading facility.  During the 1980s, UCC built a second coal preparation plant – No. 8 – at Big Rock.

In 1978, UCC purchased the defunct Sullins College in Bristol VA, and moved its corporate headquarters to that facility from Grundy VA, where the company was founded.

After the move, Jim McGlothlin and his partners began diversifying UCC, and by 1987, the company’s name was changed to The United Company to better reflect that diversification.  In 1997, the company left the coal business entirely after selling United Coal Company to Massey Energy, which later sold most of the “old” United Coal to The Rapoca Group, LLC.

A native of Buchanan County, McGlothlin is an attorney who sits on several boards and previously served on the board of visitors for his alma mater, The College of William & Mary.  He is known as a brilliant businessman, evidenced by his position as chief executive officer of Bristol-based The United Company, the privately held majority owner of the “new” United Coal.  Nick Street, the other remaining “original” partner, is a director of The United Company.  The United Company’s charitable works are well known in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. Each year, The United Company Charitable Foundation provides several million dollars in grants to community organizations that fight hunger, provide protection to children, assist first responders, and provide health care in rural areas and to citizens in need.  In 2006, McGlothlin made a substantial art donation to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, which named a new wing in honor of him and his wife, Fran.  The McGlothlin Foundation, which is run by Jim’s brother, Thomas McGlothlin, is involved in many education-related causes and has endowed new buildings and facilities on several higher education campuses, including Emory & Henry College in Emory, Va.  The Foundation was endowed primarily through bequests from Woodrow McGlothlin, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 91.  Jim’s brother, Michael, a Grundy attorney, is a board member of the Appalachian School of Law and a board member and past chairman of the board of the College of Pharmacy operated by the University of Appalachia. 

According to the UCC Web site, Jim McGlothlin “returned to his roots” by later buying back Wellmore Coal Company, which had put UCC on the map during the 1970s coal boom.

During the 1990s through 2004, The United Company embarked on a number of investments, including golf course development, oil and gas exploration and production, commercial real estate and an investment advisory business that at one point operated a publicly traded mutual fund.  It was during this time that the company lost four of its eight original partners due to the deaths of Compton, Fletcher, Moore and Fowler.  H. A. Street sold his interest to the three remaining partners, Nick Street and Jim and Woodrow McGlothlin.

UCC resurfaced in 2004, and the company’s first acquisitions were in Letcher and Knott counties of Eastern Kentucky.  Sapphire Coal Company was created by the purchase of coal properties from Cook and Sons Mining Company.  With Keith Hargrove as president, Sapphire’s entire infrastructure has been modernized and new underground mining equipment has been purchased.  The company’s 1,100-ton-per-hour preparation plant loads out unit trains of steam coal on the CSX line in four hours.  Sapphire currently ships more than 2 million tons a year and has 340 employees.

In October 2004, UCC purchased the mines and facilities of the former Carter Roag Coal Company in West Virginia.  Shortly thereafter, the company leased a significant reserve in Randolph and Upshur counties, which UCC believes has nearly 50 million recoverable tons of highly sought Sewell coal.  Carter Roag’s operations were reopened and expanded, and a new 500-ton-per-hour preparation plant was later built at Star Bridge.  The short line railroad at Star Bridge has also been upgraded.  Carter Roag includes more than 100 employees and mines 400,000 tons of coal annually.  The company’s Morgan Camp underground mine is expected to open in mid- to late-2008, and a new shaft/slope underground mine, coal preparation plant and railroad loadout facility are planned for the new Roaring Creek operation.

McGlothlin brought in Michael Zervos, formerly with Drummond Coal Company, as president and CEO of UCC in April 2005 with the goal of regaining UCC’s former prominence in Central Appalachia.  Toward that goal, coal reserves have grown to more than 175 million recoverable tons and four coal-producing divisions have been established with almost 1,200 employees.   More than 6 million tons of coal will be produced and shipped during 2008.

In November 2005, UCC purchased the assets of Beckley WV based White Mountain Mining Co., LLC and certain affiliates to establish Pocahontas Coal Company.  With mining operations in southern Raleigh County, Pocahontas has 230 employees and includes three deep mines, a surface mine and two highwall miner operations that produce more than a million tons of coal annually.  The company’s East Gulf preparation plant has also been upgraded significantly.

“This makes our third acquisition since The United Company relaunched United Coal,” Zervos stated at the time.  “UCC was known as a coal powerhouse.  We have a plan of growth through acquisitions and expanding reserves that will rival our former success.”

In January 2006, UCC brought in its first-ever outside investors, John and Joe Gregory, former founders of King Pharmaceuticals in Bristol TN, to join the three remaining original partners. 

Also that month, UCC acquired The Rapoca Group, LLC and renamed the operation Wellmore Coal Company.  In Aug. 2007, Mark Bartkoski was named president of Wellmore, which has increased production by 80 percent since the acquisition.  Wellmore now has 480 company and contract employees in Buchanan, Dickenson and Tazewell counties in Southwest Virginia.  In 2008, the company will ship nearly 2.5 million tons of metallurgical and steam coal from two plants at Big Rock and one at Nora VA.  Wellmore owns, contracts or coordinates about 25 underground and surface mining operations that supply coal for these three plants.

The company is upgrading its No. 7 coal preparation plant into a steam coal loadout facility on the Norfolk Southern Railroad, and management is considering construction of a new preparation plant and loadout facility to replace the No. 8 prep plant.  According to Bartkoski, the new No. 8 plant could become a reality by 2009.

Bartkoski said the decision to replace the No. 8 plant with a modern operation is based on the age of the plant and the “positives in the market” that have allowed Wellmore “to start looking at different qualities of coal and blends.  These final products change the beneficiation process of the plant,” he added.

Wellmore is also investigating a number of slate/gob piles (previously rejected piles of mine refuse).

“Since supply is tight and prices are higher, some refuse piles where you may be able to recover 20 to 30 percent of coal can be economically reprocessed,” Bartkoski said.  “If we can come in and re-mine/reclaim an old pile, clean up an environmental issue, provide jobs and help the community while developing a new source of marketable product, it’s a win for everybody.  The state and federal regulatory agencies encourage this type of clean-up and are very supportive of our efforts.”