Platts reported that during the third quarter of this year, Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:ANR) incurred a net loss of $458 million, much higher than its $46-million net loss in the year-ago quarter. The decline was partly due to lower prices and sales volumes.

As quoted in the market news:

Lower realized prices were most pronounced in the Bristol, Virginia-based miner’s Q3 met coal sales.

During Q3, Alpha’s met coal shipments were 5 million st compared with 4.9 million st in the year-ago quarter, the company said in an earnings statement released Thursday morning. The average realization on met coal shipments in the quarter was $94.73/st, down from $129.96/st the same period a year ago and $100.95/st in Q2 2013, Alpha said.

Q3 met coal realizations, Alpha said, ‘were lower than the second quarter due to a combination of lower quarterly prices for export shipments and reduced high quality shipments partly due to a work stoppage at a customer’s facility.’

Click here to read the full Platts report.