Peabody Energy to Acquire Thiess Investments' 5 Percent Interest in the Burton Mine

ST. LOUIS, June 29, 2011 -- Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) today said it has agreed to acquire Thiess Investments Pty Ltd's 5 percent joint venture interest in the Burton Mine for AU$35 million. The transaction will give Peabody 100 percent ownership of the hard coking coal operation in Queensland and will add an additional 165,000 to 275,000 tons of annual volumes to Peabody's metallurgical coal portfolio.

The Burton Mine shipped 2.6 million tons of coal in 2010 via the Dalrymple Bay coal terminal and is undergoing an extension that will allow Burton volumes to increase by 1 million to 2 million tons annually in 2012, with operations continuing through 2016. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011.

The project is among a large pipeline of metallurgical and thermal expansion projects under way at Peabody operations in Queensland and New South Wales. Peabody is targeting 35 million to 40 million tons of volumes from its Australian platform by 2014 to 2015, up from 27 million tons produced in 2010.

Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in clean coal solutions. With 2010 sales of 246 million tons and nearly $7 billion in revenues, Peabody fuels 10 percent of U.S. power and 2 percent of worldwide electricity.