Question-and-Answer Session
George
Hi, Dan, hi, Mike. Maybe you could first let us know, Dan, what the conditions are at the mines right now? Any problem areas with operations?
Daniel Roling
I'm going to ask, Bill Snodgrass, our Chief Operating Officer to comment on that. He is in here. I think George [ph] wants to know what the current operating conditions are at the mines.
Bill Snodgrass
Operating conditions at present is real good. We're actually had some of our operations backed up a little bit, match up with the resilience. We don’t have any unborn problems at present.
Mike Castle
Okay. And then kind of as a follow-up to that. I know, Dan, you had expressed earlier in the year that manpower availability was a problem. Is that situation getting any better?
Bill Snodgrass
Well, we actually have an excess of labor workforce right now. That's available. There’s no need for.
George
Okay. And finally on the cost per tons number, going forward, next quarter, do you think that’s going to remain relatively flat with conditions as they are or is there potential to improve on that a little bit?
Daniel Roling
I would say flat would be a very good comparison unless we have a very cold winter and gas prices would happen to go up significantly. I guess it’s been somewhat disappointed. We've seen the price of natural gas move up from around $3 to around $5, but we've not seen any incremental demand a rise in the price of coal.
As far as costs, quarter-on-quarter, I would look for our costs to come down in the fourth quarter, as we scale back production in the fourth quarter to balance demand and supply, the costs are not as immediate as the pullback in production. So in the third quarter, we saw production come back about 14%, but costs only came back just about 5%. We would look for the fourth quarter to see costs come back more, as the lower costs from that reduced production in the third quarter flow through into the fourth quarter.
George
Okay. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.
Daniel Roling
You’re welcome, Mike.
Christine Pietryla
Next Al Shams [ph]?
Al Shams
Yes, gentlemen, good afternoon. Sure, it’s nice to see a positive cash flow number.
Daniel Roling
We are working hard on that, Al.
Al Shams
I know. I know. And as a shareholder I want the guys who are pick in up the coal and mining the coal, I mean the guys in the mines to know that as a shareholder I'm really appreciative of their hard efforts, because I know it’s a team effort and not just the efforts of the few people. With that said, did we have about $67 million worth of debt associated with Alabama?
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