Property, Plant and Equipment

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2018

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

5. PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

Property, plant and equipment, including coal properties and mine development and construction costs, as of June 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 are summarized by major classification as follows:

	Useful Lives		June 30, 2018			December 31, 2017
			(in thousands)
Land			$	14,050		$	14,687
Mining and other equipment and related facilities		2 - 20 Years		305,554			298,293
Mine development costs		1 - 15 Years		60,040			58,566
Coal properties		1 - 15 Years		64,070			64,070
Construction work in process				5,085			5,227
Total				448,799			440,843
Less accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization				(270,137	)		(263,520	)
Net			$	178,662		$	177,323

Depreciation expense for mining and other equipment and related facilities, depletion expense for coal properties, amortization expense for mine development costs and amortization expense for asset retirement costs for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017 were as follows:

	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
	(in thousands)
Depreciation expense-mining and other equipment and related facilities	$	4,244	$	4,220	$	8,331	$	8,480
Depletion expense for coal properties		481		415		953		770
Amortization expense for mine development costs		821		788		1,570		1,545
Amortization expense for asset retirement costs		131		47		250		182
Total depreciation, depletion and amortization	$	5,677	$	5,470	$	11,104	$	10,977

On May 17, 2018, the Partnership entered into a sale leaseback agreement with Wintrust Commercial Finance for certain equipment previously owned by the Partnership. The Partnership received approximately $3.7 million of proceeds, of which $1.7 million was used to reduce debt. The lease agreement has a thirty-six month term. The Partnership recorded a loss of $0.2 million on the sale of the equipment which is included on the (Gain)/Loss on sale/disposal of assets-net line in the Partnership’s unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.