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On the map in the OP, you can see light blue spots in southern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. That's low volatile metallurgical coal, the very best kind. Except the mines mining that coal are room and pillar, not longwall mines, so they have higher overhead costs. Nonetheless, the coal sell for a lot of money. The lower the volatility, the less mass evaporates when the coal is heated and expands like a cake (caking ability). United Coal Company, a subsidiary of Metinvest, mines that coal in southern West Virginia. It's great stuff, even better than what Alabama has.
But Alabama has longwall mines, therefore lower production costs.
