Headlining today's coal industry news, State figures reveal that West Virginia - one of the nation's top coal producing regions - has added approximately 1,000 more workers than were employed this time last year.

According to an article posted in the Charleston Daily Mail today:

-- The region's coal industry employs nearly 3,000 more workers than it did in '08;

-- 18,240 surface and underground miners were employed in June '08 vs. 17,520 in June '07; and

-- Surging demand and prices may be driving increased workforce growth going forward.

The piece goes on to note that Massey Energy

(NYSE: MEE) - the #4 coal producer in the U.S. - which places a large operational focus on Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia and also owns properties right next to our portfolio favorite Quest Minerals & Mining Corp. (OTCBB: QMNM), held a job fair in Boone County (WV) last week.

With the nation's unemployment rate hitting a 5-year high of 6.1% in August, the coal industry appears to be a hotbed for growth going forward.

Commenting on the remarkable growth potential of the coal industry in years to come, West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney was recently quoted as saying: "Everyone's confident this market will sustain over the next several years and well into the next 20 years." and "Generally speaking, it's evident that supply and demand has kept the market very strong." "There doesn't seem to be enough coal in the world. That's the benefit of being in an energy-producing state."

Quest Makes Additional Improvements

In other coal-related news, Quest Minerals & Mining Corp. (OTCBB: QMNM) announced this morning that it has taken every measure possible to produce a sustained level high coal volume going forward. The company anticipates updating investors on its mining progress over the next few weeks, a move

that should have a positive impact on the current pps as long as the tonnage reports look promising.

Commenting on the recent infrastructure overhaul at Quest's Pond Creek, KY coal mine, Everett Hampton, President of Whitestar Mining, LLC, commented, ``For the past 10 days, we have refurbished and modified all of the key inner workings essential to our operations. Splitting the beltline to add another head drive; and replacing 1,200 feet of used conveyor belt that was more than ten years old was just one of the major improvements. We also added four feet to the belt feeder along with its own motor so that it will run independent of the beltline and therefore, cause fewer delays. Lastly, we focused on the

machinery by installing new hydraulic jacks to the roof bolter and refurbishing the under carriage on our joy 14-10a miner to give it better output efficiency. Ultimately, we have taken every measure possible to ensure that we will not only produce high coal volume, but to have this mine in the shape needed to sustain consistent production levels.''

More on the Small Cap Coal Sector

America West Resources, Inc. (OTCBB: AWSR) announced a $6.6M dollar supply contract this morning with a major U.S. energy company that could grow by another $4.75M in ‘09 if the company can stay on tract with production goals.

According to today’s release, the contract announced today coupled with a contract announced back in June could result in ap

proximately $32M in revenues for AWSR over the next 16 months if all goes well. For a company that logged just over $6.6M in 2007 revenues, the recent inflow of contracts could transform America West into a viable, lower-tiered domestic coal supplier

Now trading at $.28 with about 110 million shares outstanding, the stock is up approximately 11% on volume of 38,000 as of 1:31 EST today. If the news keeps rolling here, things could get interesting.

Labels: America West Resources, AWSR, Coal, OTCBB: AWSR, QMNM.ob, Quest Minerals and Mining Corp