Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT:

Property, plant and equipment consists of the following:

	December 31,
	2019		2018
Plant and Equipment	$	3,028,514	$	2,890,970
Coal Properties and Surface Lands	872,909		858,153
Airshafts	437,003		419,100
Mine Development	342,706		342,405
Advance Mining Royalties	327,048		327,543
Total Property, Plant and Equipment	5,008,180		4,838,171
Less: Accumulated Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization	2,916,015		2,731,643
Total Property, Plant and Equipment, Net	$	2,092,165	$	2,106,528

Coal reserves are controlled either through fee ownership or by lease. The duration of the leases vary; however, the lease terms are generally extended automatically to the exhaustion of economically recoverable reserves, as long as active mining continues. Coal interests held by lease provide the same rights as fee ownership for mineral extraction and are legally considered real property interests.

As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, property, plant and equipment includes gross assets under finance leases of $52,729 and $49,775, respectively. Accumulated amortization for finance leases was $31,373 and $15,973 at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Amortization expense for assets under finance leases approximated $15,691, $13,148 and $424 for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and is included in Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income. See Note 13–Leases for further discussion of finance leases.