Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Jim Rollyson - Raymond James - Raymond James.
Jim Rollyson - Raymond James
George, you talked about the $315 coal and obviously it is not fully resolved, but you are working on it, but any sense of whether or not you might be able or you think you might be able to ship that by the end of next year, do you think maybe between now and then, is that a fair assumption or do you think it could stretch out longer?
George Richmond
Jim, we are obviously in negotiations on then I really too much say that until we finish the negotiations. However, we do expect to be shipping that coal next year. Whether or not it runs over today, I can’t tell you, but we want it as early as we can and obviously the market is starting to give us a little bit more leverage.
Jim Rollyson - Raymond James
Obviously, things seem to be ticking in the right direction and your June shipments show that and your guidance for 3Q shows that are you feeling like, at this point, this trend is going to continue in your direction when you head into the fourth quarter and I guess what I mean by that is do you think fourth quarter volumes will probably hold up compared to 3Q volumes at this point?
George Richmond
We still have nominations and some work to do on scheduling, but I would think that the fourth quarter rolled up from the third quarter regarding shipments.
Jim Rollyson - Raymond James
As you look to next year, you guys made the comment in your press release that you are planning to start the longwall production at the No. 7 East it says early January. So, I presume the outlook for volumes next year is going to be up, but any thoughts right now and I realize it is really early but originally you guys were going to be pushing 9 million, 8.5 million and 9 million tons next year.
I’m guessing the market might not be there for all those tons, but it certainly would seem like it be overall better than what we are looking at this year. Any kind of thoughts, magnitude wise or what next year might look like?
George Richmond
Yes, I think we are starting a longwall. We do feel volumes are going to be up. We will have relatively low inventories of No. 7 going into the first quarter, so we will need to rebuild those, but we will have to finish the final negotiations before we decide whether that longwall is going to run six days a week, five days a week or not at its maximum speed, but we have got some work to do to determine that. We certainly think volumes are going to be up.
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