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January 19, 2026
Warrior Met Coal receives permits for Alabama mining projects
Written by Kristen DiLandro
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has provided Warrior Met Coal official permits for expanding its Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based mining projects.
Back in October, Warrior paid $46.8 million for total federal land parcels equaling ~14,050 acres. The lands provide Warrior access to 53 million short tons (st) of metallurgical coal. Met coal is a critical component in blast-furnace steelmaking.
Brookwood, Ala.-based Warrior said its Blue Creek Mine No. 1 lease covers ~8,300 acres with ~36.3 million short tons of recoverable coal reserves. Its Mine No. 4 lease covers ~5,700 acres containing ~16.9 million st of recoverable coal reserves. Warrior expects this land to support its mining project for more than 40 years and stated that it expects to create 500 new jobs or more.
Upon his second inauguration as president, Donald Trump swiftly issued mandates aimed at exploiting US natural resources. On Jan. 20, 2025, the president called for “Unleashing American Energy” in an executive order. Later in March, the president issued the “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production” executive order. On July 4, the president signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into law.
To carry out the president’s orders, the Department of the Interior’s BLM created a competitive lease by application (LBA) program. Warrior’s CEO Walt Scheller lauded the new permitting experience.
“The transparency and streamlined process allowed the approval of two leases that will extend the mine life of our existing operations at Mine 4 North and our new Blue Creek Mine. This approval will ensure miners in rural Alabama high-paying jobs for the next 40 years,” he said.
