Clinch Resources Ltd. (CLCH:TSX) is a metallurgical mining company with its corporate office located in Knoxville, Tennessee, and operations in West Virginia. Clinch is currently opening its first two mines, centered around the production of met coal. Its first mine, Lanes Branch (surface), is in the hiring process and plans to begin production in the next few weeks.
Met coal is the shorthand term for metallurgical coal, also often known as coke, which is essential to global steel production and has no viable substitute. According to a March 2026 thematic research report by Nick Ward for Ocean Wall, “Global supply growth is increasingly constrained. New projects face tougher regulation, rising costs, and restricted access to capital.” The report went on to say, “Coke’s integral role is down to three non-substitutable functions: as a high-temperature fuel, as the structural matrix that maintains permeability in the furnace, and as the chemical reductant that strips oxygen from iron ore to produce hot metal. This ‘functional indispensability’ helps explain why met coal retains an essential role within the built environment despite the broader anti-coal narrative. Around 90% of met coal is consumed directly within global steel production.” Shortages are also piling up because of stricter permitting and ESG screens, structural increases in operating costs, and “restricted access to capital that has penalized long-lead resource projects.”
Clinch is preparing to step into that void and provide those resources. Executive Vice President of Investor Relations Bobby Gaylor said the mine will produce mid-vol coal: “Mid-vol coal is still very important in the world, recently being added to the critical mineral list in November by the U.S. Mid-vol coal is used in the production of blast furnace virgin steel and in specialty coal markets. Clinch anticipates selling into both of these markets.”…