Peabody Energy’s Rawhide Mine has earned a first-place safety award from the Wyoming Mining Association and the Wyoming State Inspector of Mines for the best 2011 safety performance among Powder River Basin coal mining operations of comparable size. The award was presented at the Wyoming Mining Association’s annual meeting at Jackson Lake Lodge, WY.

Rawhide was honored in the small mine category for working a full year without a lost-time incident. The awards are given annually to recognize mines that have worked at least 100,000 hours and have the lowest incident frequency rates. Awards are given to both surface and underground mines in the large and small mine categories. The honor comes on the heels of Rawhide’s 2011 Peabody Energy President’s Award, which recognizes the company’s safest surface and underground mine operations.

“Our workers at Rawhide have shown that vigilance and teamwork are primary drivers of safety achievement and that our goal of zero safety incidents is possible,” said President – Americas Richard A. Navarre. “Safety is a core value, part of our mission and a way of life for all of us at Peabody.”

Personal accountability is key to Peabody’s safety success. Every employee commits to the company’s safety vision, and employees at all levels are held responsible for safe behavior. The company achieved record safety results in 2011. U.S. operations reported a 1.37 safety rate per 200,000 hours worked, outperforming the industry average by 63 percent. Peabody’s U.S. employees were recognized for those efforts with a dozen awards for safety and emergency preparedness in 2011.

Peabody Energy’s Rawhide Mine is located in the Southern Powder River Basin of Northeast Wyoming and shipped 13.6 Mt (15 million st) of coal in 2011.