Peabody Energy Q2 2026 Earnings Report

Peabody Energy EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -$0.74
• Consensus EPS: -$0.38
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.36
• One Year Ago EPS: -$0.23

Peabody Energy Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $1.00 billion
• Expected Revenue: $1.02 billion
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$16.69 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +12.70%

Peabody Energy Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 7/29/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 11:00AM ET

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) (NYSE: BTU) is a global coal producer and energy company. It primarily mines and sells thermal coal, which is used for electricity generation, and metallurgical coal, which is used in steelmaking. The company also markets and trades coal and provides related services, including coal transportation and land management.

Peabody operates mining assets in the United States and Australia and serves utility, industrial and steelmaking customers in domestic and international markets. Its U.S. operations include mines in the Powder River Basin and the Illinois Basin, while its Australian portfolio includes thermal and metallurgical coal operations.

The company traces its origins to 1883 and has grown through acquisitions and expansion in major coal-producing regions. Peabody has also pursued efforts related to mine reclamation, land restoration and emissions-reduction technologies as the energy industry responds to changing environmental and regulatory conditions.

Peabody Energy Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter results were weak: Peabody reported a $90.6 million net loss attributable to common stockholders and $24 million of adjusted EBITDA, pressured by lower U.S. thermal volumes, elevated fuel costs and commissioning expenses at Centurion.
• Positive Sentiment: Centurion is moving into production mode: Shield realignment issues have been resolved, the longwall is operating, and management targets 1.5–2.0 million tons of sales in the second half, including 500,000–700,000 tons in the third quarter. Costs are expected to improve as production becomes more consistent.
• Positive Sentiment: Coal market fundamentals remained supportive: Second-quarter premium hard coking coal prices averaged $238 per ton and Newcastle thermal coal averaged $137 per ton, with supply disruptions in China and Indonesia supporting seaborne pricing and demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Financial flexibility and shareholder returns improved: Peabody reduced interest expense, repurchased the economic equivalent of more than 5 million shares through a convertible-note transaction, unlocked $350 million of restricted cash and collateral, and extended and expanded its credit facility.
• Positive Sentiment: Management expects a stronger second half: Third-quarter guidance calls for higher PRB shipments of 22 million tons at approximately $12 per ton, improved seaborne metallurgical costs of $130–$140 per ton, and continued execution of the shareholder-return program. Rare-earth and germanium initiatives also provide longer-term, capital-light growth optionality.

Presentation

[Operator]

Day, and welcome to the Peabody quarter two 2026 earnings call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kayla Finckling. Please go ahead.

[Kayla Finckling, Director of Investor Relations at Peabody]

Thanks, operator. Good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for Peabody's second quarter 2026 earnings call. Joining me today are Peabody's President and CEO, Jim Grech, Chief Financial Officer, Mark Spurbeck, and Chief Commercial Officer, Malcolm Roberts. After our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions. Before we begin, I want to remind you that our remarks today will include forward-looking statements. Please review the full statement contained in our earnings release and consider the risk factors referenced there, along with our filings with the SEC. I'll now turn the call over to Jim.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Thanks, Kayla. Good morning, everyone. Peabody delivered on a number of important accomplishments during the second quarter while continuing to manage through some near-term operating and cost challenges. Most importantly, we maintained our focus on safety across the portfolio, which remains the foundation of everything we do. During the quarter, we also made meaningful progress on a number of key priorities. At the Centurion Mine, we are now approaching targeted production levels. I'll provide [audio distortion] Centurion in a moment. Our seaborne thermal operations delivered on volumes and costs, supported by strong execution despite the higher fuel cost environment. We completed multiple strategic financial actions that further strengthened our capital structure, lowered our interest expense, freed up restricted cash, and effectively returned cash to shareholders. Mark will provide more detail on these actions shortly, but I'll steal part of his thunder and note that we have effectively repurchased 5 million shares.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

In addition, Peabody was selected by the Department of Energy for a grant to advance rare earth elements and critical minerals development opportunities in the Powder River Basin. This recognition reinforces the strategic value of our existing asset base and the opportunities to unlock value beyond our core coal mining business. At the same time, the quarter included several challenges. In U.S. thermal, volumes were impacted by the extended shoulder season in the Powder River Basin and heavy rainfall across the Midwest. In seaborne metallurgical, costs were temporarily elevated by commissioning-related spend at Centurion. As expected, we faced some of the highest fuel costs in years. Bottom line, $24 million of adjusted EBITDA is nowhere near the type of quarter that this platform is capable of or that we expect going forward.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Overall, we exited the quarter with improving operational momentum, a stronger financial foundation, and continued confidence in the long-term value of our diversified portfolio. With that, let me provide a more detailed update on Centurion. The primary challenge that we addressed was realignment of shields that had been impacted by the roof conditions we encountered due to the longer than planned commissioning period. This shield alignment process was laborious and time-consuming and more expensive than we expected, but it is now behind us. The longwall is in excellent shape and remaining roof control issues are largely limited to a rock faulting zone spanning about 20% of the longwall face that we will continue to work through during the third quarter. I'll also note that run-of-mine production, prep plant yields, and rail shipments have all strengthened in recent weeks.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Given where we are against plan, we are targeting 1.5 million-2 million tons of sales in the second half, with 500,000-700,000 tons expected this quarter, factoring in anticipated shipping schedules. Our focus now is on safely accelerating production rates and improving consistency. As this occurs, we expect the elevated cost of the first half to begin to trend more in line with long-range projections as we move through the second half of the year. It's worth recounting the extraordinary potential represented by Centurion. It's the highest quality coking coal product in the world. Its projected long-term cost structure is first quartile for this type of coal, further expanding margins. It has a 25-year mine life that further solidified Centurion's role as Peabody's cornerstone asset in Australia. That's the summary of Centurion's progress.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Given the importance of the mine to the portfolio, we'll look to provide updates to the market in both August and September ahead of the next earnings review. Beyond our core business, our Peabody Development Group continues to advance multiple initiatives and opportunities we have to develop rare earth elements and critical minerals from our extensive asset base. We were honored to receive a conditional award from the U.S. Department of Energy to demonstrate the feasibility of recovering rare earth elements from coal-related feedstocks. Our work on rare earth elements extends across multiple mining operations and includes several initiatives beyond the project supported by the DOE award. In critical minerals, we continue to make encouraging progress in our expanded exploration and evaluation of germanium across our existing operations.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

We're working with leading process technology partners and an industrial consumer of germanium to demonstrate technical and commercial feasibility with the objective of establishing domestic production and creating a new high-value revenue stream for Peabody. Each of these opportunities is viewed through a capital-light prism, aiming to work with partners, create new pathways for Peabody growth, and further monetize our resource base. While we are highly focused on near-term execution, I'd also like to take a step back for a minute and note that we have spent the last several years building a platform from which to generate meaningful shareholder returns for many years to come. This platform includes flagship operations in our seaborne met, seaborne thermal, and U.S. thermal businesses. Sustainable operations with a number of capital light extension projects progressing in Australia. A fortress balance sheet with a capital structure built for the long haul.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

A portfolio position to benefit from mid-cycle seaborne thermal and metallurgical pricing. Several early-stage initiatives within Peabody Development that add important growth optionality. We look forward to delivering the earnings and cash flow generation capabilities of our platform in the future. With that, I'll turn it over to Malcolm for a discussion of U.S. and global market fundamentals.

[Malcolm Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer at Peabody]

Thanks, Jim. The second quarter saw continued strength in both seaborne metallurgical and thermal coal markets amid some softness in U.S. thermal coal. Starting with seaborne metallurgical coal, prices reached a several-year high in the second quarter, with premium hard coking coal averaging $238 a ton, a 29% improvement over year-ago levels. Driving that was steel demand that was good but not great, and a met coal supply picture that saw sharp tightening due to a tragic mine accident in China's Shanxi province. That accident has led to widespread safety inspections and curtailed production in Shanxi, along with several other Chinese provinces that experienced a similar dynamic from less widely reported safety incidents.

[Malcolm Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer at Peabody]

The actions of one province in China may not appear to be significant in the world market, but Shanxi produces more met coal than the entire seaborne met market, and in fact, twice as much coal in total as the entire United States. The effects of production constraints have been stark. We estimate that 30 million tons of production were already taken out of supply in the second quarter, compared with the seaborne market that only totals 85 million tons a quarter. Continued supply reductions are expected throughout the second half of the year. Switching to seaborne thermal coal markets, demand remained strong throughout the second quarter due to strong coal-fueled generation across multiple countries in Asia. Liquefied natural gas, the key competitor to seaborne thermal coal, saw prices move higher because of ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

[Malcolm Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer at Peabody]

Japan-Korea market LNG prices started the year in the $10-$11 per MMBtu range. This soared to $24-$25 per MMBtu and even now remain just below that mark. As we've seen so often, major events remind numerous countries why coal-fueled generation is so reliable and affordable. The Iran conflict is no different. Seaborne thermal prices have responded to strong coal-fueled generation. Newcastle 6,000-cal product averaged $137 in the second quarter, more than 35% above prior year levels. We've also seen the lower heat API 5 product respond in a similar fashion. While seaborne thermal demand looks to remain strong as we move through the summer in the northern hemisphere, supply is likely to be constrained by Indonesian policy settings. Indonesia continues to tweak its policies relating to coal production, exports, and domestic market obligations. Indonesia is the largest seaborne thermal coal exporter.

[Malcolm Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer at Peabody]

Yet we are hearing of rolling blackouts in Indonesia as coal-fueled generators run short of coal. Indonesia's 2026 coal output is expected to be meaningfully lower than prior year levels. Shifting to U.S. thermal coal markets, the demand picture was impacted by what seemed to be a four to five-month spring in many parts of the country. Heating degree days were off sharply in the first quarter, with a second quarter that was also mild. That led to natural gas prices that averaged 13% lower than the strong first half of 2025, driving some coal to gas switching. I will also note, though, that we've seen a return to what I would call longevity maintenance actions by a number of coal-fueled plants in the U.S. In prior years, maintenance outages were more modest given expected retirements. Why maintain a plant that's going out of service?

[Malcolm Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer at Peabody]

Now, though, we've seen a trend of plants taking longer seasonal outages to enable more comprehensive repairs and maintenance. Customers recognize that these plants may be operating for longer than originally expected. While those longer outages dampened the springtime coal loadings, they also set up for a stronger long-term thesis. Summer, of course, has now settled in across the U.S., and grid statistics are showing the important role of coal-fired generation in meeting grid demand loads. We've begun to see an increased level of offtake in line with the established trend of recent years, when July to December is the period where coal burn is at its strongest. That's a quick review of the markets. Now over to Mark for a discussion of the financials.

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

Thanks, Malcolm, and good morning to all. For the second quarter, we reported a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $90.6 million, or $0.74 per diluted share, an adjusted EBITDA of $24 million. The quarter reflected significant progress at Centurion, strong seaborne thermal results, and lower U.S. thermal volumes. We also completed several strategic financial transactions to unlock shareholder value, which I will discuss in more detail after walking through the segment results. The seaborne thermal platform shipped 3 million tons, in line with expectations and consistent with the first quarter. Export shipments totaled 1.9 million tons, and the average realized export price of $95.87 increased 11.2% quarter-over-quarter and 31.6% compared to the prior year period.

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

Segment costs of $58 per ton were at the low end of guidance, resulting in a 23% adjusted EBITDA margin and over $52 million of adjusted EBITDA. Seaborne metallurgical shipments totaled 2.5 million tons, exceeding expectations by 200,000 tons due to higher volumes from Metropolitan and the CMJV. Costs were above guidance at $155 per ton, primarily reflecting higher commissioning costs at Centurion. The segment reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $17 million as higher Centurion costs were only partially offset by a 7% quarter-over-quarter improvement in realized pricing. Our U.S. thermal business reported $19.8 million of adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter, marked by the extended shoulder season, which resulted in lower volumes across the platform.

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

In the Powder River Basin, shipments totaled 16.4 million tons, significantly below our 19 million ton expectation as mild weather extended into June and coal generation plants undertook the extensive longevity maintenance that Malcolm noted. We kept a keen eye on labor efficiency and equipment utilization, moving an additional 11 million cubic meters of overburden, uncovering additional coal. The related cost naturally ran through second quarter results and temporarily increased unit cost to $14 per ton, but they will provide a significant benefit to costs for the rest of the year. In fact, we expect cost to be $2 lower, or about $12 per ton, in the third quarter. Other U.S. thermal shipped 3 million tons, 400,000 tons below guidance, reflecting the extended shoulder season and heavy rainfall across the Midwest late in the quarter that delayed shipments.

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

Despite lower volumes, costs were kept in line at $46 per ton, demonstrating focused, disciplined cost control. The segment contributed $26.9 million of adjusted EBITDA in the quarter. Turning to the balance sheet and capital structure. At June 30, the company had over $500 million cash and total liquidity over $900 million. In the second quarter, we completed several strategic financial transactions that unlock shareholder value, jumpstart shareholder returns, lower borrowing costs, and increase financial flexibility. First, we issued $250 million of convertible notes due 2031 with a 0.5% coupon, and together with the related capped call transaction, established a conversion price of $50.61 per share.

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

Second, we utilized the net proceeds together with cash from the balance sheet to redeem $241.2 million of the 2028 convertible notes with a 3.25% coupon for cash consideration of $386.8 million. The $145.6 million premium paid with cash represents a share repurchase of more than 5 million shares using a weighted average price of $28.92 per share. The convertible note transactions increased the average conversion price on the convertible notes from $18.99 to $38.31 per share, reduced the diluted share count by 6.2 million shares, and lower annual interest expense by $6.6 million. Third, we significantly enhanced our global surety program.

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

The financial profile built over the last several years provided for a transition to standard indemnification agreements, lower collateral requirements, and the replacement of cash collateral with asset-backed facilities. These changes unlocked $350 million of restricted cash and collateral while maintaining one of the best well-collateralized reclamation bonding programs in the industry. Lastly, we increased our revolving credit facility to $400 million, extended the maturity to June 2030, and lowered borrowing costs by 25 basis points. Year to date, we've generated $145.3 million of available free cash flow, including the reduction in restricted cash and collateral. We used $145.6 million for the convertible note repurchase premium and have also paid cash dividends of $18.3 million, bringing our payout ratio to greater than 100% through the first half of the year.

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

Now for a quick look at the third quarter. We expect seaborne thermal volume of 3.0 million tons, including 1.9 million tons of export coal with a product mix of 1.1 million tons of Newcastle Benchmark coal and 800,000 tons of higher ash coal that we sell at about a 10% discount to API 5. We expect costs of $52-$57 per ton, a nice improvement quarter-over-quarter. For seaborne metallurgical, we expect volume of 1.9 million-2.1 million tons, as Metropolitan has a longwall move and a scheduled longwall outage will reduce sales at Shoal Creek. Costs are expected to improve to $130-$140 per ton, a $20 improvement compared to the second quarter as Centurion volumes increase.

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

In the PRB, we anticipate shipments of 22 million tons at costs of $12, substantially improving margins and free cash flow from the segment. Other U.S. thermal shipments are expected to increase to 3.7 million tons, an average price of $58.20 with costs at $45-$49 per ton, in line with full year expectations. In closing, Peabody exits the quarter with an even stronger financial foundation and tighter capital structure, poised to generate significant free cash flow as Centurion advances to expected production rates. Anticipation for a better second half and strong market fundamentals points to further support for our shareholder return program. With that, I'll turn the call back over to you, Jim.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Thanks, Mark. As we move into the second half of the year, our focus is on execution. Centurion reaching targeted longwall production rates. U.S. thermal positioned for stronger seasonal demand. Our seaborne platform well-placed amid constructive global markets. With improving operational momentum and a strong financial foundation, we believe our Peabody platform is well-positioned to deliver improved results and create long-term value for shareholders. With that operator, we are pleased to open up the call to questions.

[Operator]

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch-tone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw the question, please press star then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question comes from Nick Giles with B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead.

[Nick Giles, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Yeah, thanks, operator. Good morning, guys. Maybe just starting with Centurion. Was just hoping for more color to what extent the longwall's running today. How much stoppage is this rock faulting causing or how are advance rates ultimately impacted here? Thanks.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Hey, Nick. Good morning. Jim here. Yeah. First I'll give you a little background on the longwall and where it's at and then how it's running today. The issue that we had, that we talked about was the shields being out of alignment or sometimes it's called racking. We have that issue behind us now. The longwall, the shields are straight, and they're square to the face. It's in good shape. It took a little longer than we thought it was going to be to address this issue. Again, just to give you maybe a little explanation what it is, a picture of what it is. The shields themselves, you could look at it as like a row of dominoes, and then some of those dominoes got knocked over on top of each other. Not all of them, but some of them.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Each one of those dominoes weighs 53 tons. To straighten them out and do it safely, which is a hard thing to do with the weight of those shields underground, it took a little bit longer than we thought in through the month of June. Now that's done, the longwall's square and it's running. We're running right now. It's running back and forth the shear, and at times we have stoppages to address the faulting that we have. Now to address the faulting, we've taken four different actions to address the faulting ahead of us. We either do underground in seam drilling ahead of the fault and inserting grout that way. We have drilling from the surface further away from the longwall face addressing the faulting that way.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Then right at the face, if it's needed, there's a localized faulting at the face. We can do some geo-flexing right at the face or some rock sill right above the shield. The first two things that we do for the faulting are more in advance of the longwall. The other two with the geo-flex and rock sill are sort of like right where in the active mining zone with the longwall. With that, over the last two weeks we've really picked up the pace on the longwall. We have some days where we've run seven, eight shears a day, and some days where we're running three or four shears a day because we have that faulting to address. That's where that consistency is that we're looking forward to go forward is running at a steadier rate.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

As we keep advancing through this faulted zone and running at a steadier rate, it really solves itself. The quicker you can move through it, the more shears per day that you can get done. With that, looking at the faulting, the rate that we're going forward, having to stop occasionally to address the faults in front of us, that's where we've given that projection, that 500,000-700,000 tons for the third quarter because there is some variability not only on the speed or the number of shears per day, Nick, but also on the yield. When we hit in the faulting area, the yield goes down, we get more rock. There's variability in both of those. We take that all into account, and that's how we came up with that projection.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Again, the longwall face has been in the best shape that it's been in since we started the mine. We're out of the commissioning phase, and we're in the production phase now.

[Nick Giles, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Jim, I really appreciate all that color. Apologies for my ignorance, just to clarify, the racking issue, was that ultimately caused by the faulting that you're running into? My second question was just, I think you answered it already, but how much visibility do you have quarters down the line that you won't run into this faulting zone again? Thanks.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Yeah. Your first question is, it was a continuation of the long commissioning, the slow start-up process. We started out with the electrical issues that were, as we started the longwall up, we had a series of electrical issues that had a shutdown. It took us a while to address that. The longwall started running. We ran into a series of mechanical issues with belts and conveyors and transfer points. All of that delay in the start-up and the longwall stopping and starting, Nick, is not good, especially in a new longwall mine and a new panel like we were. That led to making the situation degrade where the faulting is.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

If we would've just started up and ran and not had the delays at the start-up and had the normal advance rate, we wouldn't have had the conditions leading to needing the shield realignment. Now going forward, the conditions that we have are really specific to this panel, and how we're looking at it. We have about 300 m left in front of us of this faulted area, and it's in a very specific area between our shields number 20 to shield number 50. We can see an end of sight to this faulting. It'll be during the third quarter. We don't expect this in the fourth quarter. We have good geologic, good control, and we'll be out of this come the fourth quarter.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Now, because of that variability, Nick, in advance rates and yield because of the faulting is why we've said that we will also give out updates in August and September of how we're doing, right? To make it more accurate and to tighten those ranges up as we go forward.

[Nick Giles, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Got it.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Thank you.

[Nick Giles, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Yeah, great. No, I just want to say thanks again for all the background. I'll turn it over.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Thanks, Nick.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Matthew Key with Texas Capital Securities. Please go ahead.

[Matthew Key, Analyst at Texas Capital Securities]

Good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. I had a question just on PRB volume guidance. Based on where coal volume was in the first half of 2026 and the guidance 3Q, it seems to achieve the midpoint of that range, it would imply a pretty impressive 4Q shipment quarter. Just given where natural gas prices are trading, is it safer to assume the lower end of that guidance, or are you pretty confident going into that 4Q will be a strong quarter?

[Malcolm Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer at Peabody]

Good morning, Matthew. Malcolm here. Look, as I said in my remarks, the second half of the year and what we're looking at here doesn't seem that different to prior years. Obviously, gas price is a little lower, but if you look at the grid at the moment, coal's being called upon very heavily. What we're looking to do in the second half of the year, probably is not much different if you overlaid the pattern from 2023 through 2025. Probably quite rightly, you should be assuming the midpoint of the guidance range that you spoke to. That'll be my response to that question.

[Matthew Key, Analyst at Texas Capital Securities]

Got it. No, that's helpful. I was wondering, you mentioned this a little bit in the prepared remarks, but I just wanted to talk about capital allocation plans over the coming quarters. Do you think buybacks make sense on the back of this pullback, or what are the major priorities for you in the second half of 2026?

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Matt, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, continue to execute against our existing shareholder return program payout over 100% year to date, look to generate some substantial free cash flow in the second half of the year as Centurion achieves its targeted production rates. We'll look to continue to execute against that shareholder return program. We'll look at outright share repurchases. We'll also look at the remaining stub of the convertible notes, depending on where they trade. We were able to buy those at $241 million back at a very small premium, less than 4 points, I believe. Was pretty opportunistic in the sense that they had traded down significantly. I think going forward, we'll execute against the program and we'll look at both of those avenues.

[Matthew Key, Analyst at Texas Capital Securities]

Got it. I appreciate the time and best of luck.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Katja Jancic with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

[Katja Jancic, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. Maybe just quickly back to Centurion. Jim, you mentioned that you're going to provide updates in August and September. Can you maybe talk about when specifically we should be expecting those updates?

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

In August, for certain, we have a site tour out at Centurion on August 11th, and there will be an update given at that site tour, which again, of course, would be filed and made public information. By the way, we still have six spots left open on that site tour of Centurion. We've had a very good response, a little bit of, you gave me a chance, Katja, to push that out there. At that site tour we'll give an update, then we have some investor days, I'm not sure the specific dates off the top of my head, in September. We'll also give updates then.

[Katja Jancic, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

Maybe staying on the site visit, I guess you're going to take investors and analysts to actually see the longwall?

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Yes. Yep. It's a great tour. The site, we'll show the longwall, we'll show the surface facilities. You'll see every piece of the mine, operating piece of the mine that we have there.

[Katja Jancic, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

Maybe shifting gears to the $350 million of restricted cash that was unlocked. Is that fully available right now or are there any still restrictions to using that?

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

Katja, the $350 million of collateral that was returned, it was really reclassed from restricted cash and collateral. To your question, it is fully available. It's included in our cash balances at June 30.

[Katja Jancic, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay, perfect. Thank you.

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

Look forward to seeing you at the Centurion visit, Katja.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Nathan Martin with The Benchmark Company. Please go ahead.

[Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Thanks, operator. Good morning, everyone. Sticking with the restricted cash piece, Mark, question for you. Are there any more opportunities to unlock restricted cash, whether that be surety-related or otherwise? Looks like there's still about $460 million or so left there on the balance sheet. Thanks.

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

Yeah, Nate. We've pretty much done all the work we can there. We reduced the collateral significantly, went to an asset-backed facility in Australia, and then reduced the collateral to about 40% in the U.S. I'm not looking for any more step changes there. I think we should probably look at this as kind of a permanent fix.

[Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Okay, perfect. Helpful, Mark. Going back to Centurion, I guess, have you guys noticed anything during the ramp-up stage now heading into the production stage at Centurion that makes you feel like you can't operate the mine at a cost per ton within your prior expectation? Jim, you talked about this a little bit in your comments. I was just hoping to get a little bit more detail. Thanks.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

No, Nate, I'd say when we have been running well without an issue, I'd say it's the opposite. The rate at which here can transit is as good or better than we thought it would be. I'll say we have some optimism that once we get to steady state and running of the mine, that we will be at that cost structure or possibly better. It's just getting from this commissioning phase now into the production and getting to steady state production to actually see the results of that. When we are running well, we run very well.

[Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Very helpful, Jim. Appreciate that. Maybe just one higher-level market question for Malcolm. Malcolm, maybe just get your thoughts on how you believe El Niño conditions or Super El Niño could impact Peabody and the broader coal markets. Thanks.

[Malcolm Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer at Peabody]

Thanks for the question, Nate. I'll probably bifurcate the answer here for seaborne and then U.S. domestic. Talking about seaborne, the biggest thing is drought, particularly in Asia and China. We've seen very strong coal burn in China. There's a lot of noise around how much coal China actually is consuming, but they're consuming a hell of a lot of coal, and production at the moment isn't keeping up domestic production. The main thing we've seen here with this weather pattern is that hydro production from the Great River system in China is down. That's having an influence. We're looking to Europe and we're looking at a very warm summer in Europe and we're seeing even increased coal generation in countries such as Germany. Pretty much across North Asia, you're talking Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

[Malcolm Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer at Peabody]

We're also seeing strong coal burn as air conditioners are being turned on, and we expect them to stay on for some time. Look, I'm in the U.S. here and enjoying the warmth and looking at the grid pretty much across MISO and the like. We're seeing very strong coal loads, and expect that to continue. A good hot summer is really going to contribute to coal burn in the U.S., and that's why I reiterated that I think the midpoint for PRB guidance is where people should be looking at it. Hopefully, that gives you some color, Nate. Thanks for the question.

[Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Yeah, it does, Malcolm. Appreciate it. I'll pass it on there. Appreciate the time, everyone. Best of luck in the second half.

[Malcolm Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer at Peabody]

Thanks, Nate.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from George Eadie with UBS. Please go ahead.

[George Eadie, Analyst at UBS]

Hi, team. Thanks for the call today. Perhaps for Jim, the 4.7 million tons life mine average target and $105 cash costs. Is that number still stale? I guess more on the cost front. You call out in this update supply and material pressures. How confident are you in this estimate still, or do you think it is still achievable when the tons come there? Maybe just a reminder as well, with Centurion, there are five panels in the south before you go north. Given this delay, is it still 2029 when you get to the north?

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Yeah. Hi, George. Yeah. There are a couple things you asked about there. The 4.7 million tons when we get to the steady state production, yes, we still feel that is a good number. The $105 was a 2024 dollar number, so it does need to be escalated. Again, when we get to the steady state production, we assume a normalization on the, not that diesel prices are that big an impact there. With that, some of those things that we think are not standard impacts on the cost of supplies. Yeah, we still feel good about both those numbers once we get to our steady state production. The delays you are talking about here are not significant over the four or five years that we have in the south here.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

To the extent that we're not going to mine the initial tons that we thought this year, that does tack on some time, until we transfer to the northern reserves. I mean, you're looking at months here, though. You're not talking years.

[George Eadie, Analyst at UBS]

Yep. Okay. No. Awesome. Then maybe just one more. Mark, I guess, the buyback, why not go early? Like at spot and guidance, your available free cash should get to at least $50 million a quarter. Clearly, that's what investors are chasing and wanting here and sort of rereading the tech report. This appears to be the only really known concerning faulting zone. The outlook looks clearly better. Why not go early, before the stock potentially gets more expensive and buy into this pullback given the balance sheet's in a pretty good state?

[Mark Spurbeck, CFO at Peabody]

George, we're going to continue to execute against the plan. We wouldn't foreshadow what we're going to do, of course, ahead of market conditions. We like where we're at today. We like how our execution on the converts, really opportunistic, and bought those back at a $140 million discount to where they had previously traded. We'll continue to take opportunistic looks at this and we'll continue to execute throughout the second half.

[George Eadie, Analyst at UBS]

All right. Thanks.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Thanks, George.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Nick Giles with B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead.

[Nick Giles, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Great. Yeah. Thanks for taking my follow-up. Just wanted to clarify the 600,000 tons of Centurion output in 3Q. How much of that is CM coal versus longwall coal? I assume there's a little bit of longwall coal at the end of the quarter, but wanted to make sure we have that straight.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Yeah, there is some CM coal in there. It's probably in the range of 150,000 tons, give or take.

[Nick Giles, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Got it. Okay. As we look up to 2027, there was the longwall move that had been pushed out from the fourth quarter. Should we expect that move to occur in Q1? What would be the kind of duration of that move?

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Yeah, we haven't given that specific guidance yet for 2027 yet, Nick, and the timing of that longwall move. We're also working on some ways to shorten the duration of that move based on what we've learned so far with the mine and accelerate it. That move will occur in 2027. Again, we're working on the timing of when that is and also the duration of it, again, because we have some optimism that we can accelerate from what we thought before would be the length of the outage.

[Nick Giles, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Understood. Maybe one more, if I could, just on the rare earths piece. You mentioned a capital-light approach, bringing in some partners. Where do those potential partnerships stand? Do you have any that are kind of a non-binding nature? When should we expect more of an update on that front?

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Yeah. I don't want to get too far into it because it's some proprietary information because we're in discussions. When we have something that's solid with some detail behind it to answer the questions you're asking, we'll make those announcements.

[Nick Giles, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Understood. Okay. Thanks again, guys. Best of luck.

[Operator]

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Jim Grech for any closing remarks.

[Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody]

Yes. I'd like to remind everybody again that the August 11th tour at Centurion, there are some spots open, and maybe some of these questions that'll be asked today we should have more detail on. If you're interested in going over to Australia or going out to our mine, you can contact our IR group and get on the list to go out there. With that, thanks to everyone for your time today as well as your longstanding support. We look forward to keeping you apprised of our progress at the investor events as the quarter proceeds. Thank you.

[Operator]

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Mark Spurbeck, CFO

Analysts

• Kayla Finckling, Director of Investor Relations at Peabody
• Jim Grech, President and CEO at Peabody
• Malcolm Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer at Peabody
• Nick Giles, Analyst at B. Riley Securities
• Matthew Key, Analyst at Texas Capital Securities
• Katja Jancic, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets
• Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company
• George Eadie, Analyst at UBS