Drummond Company, Inc. is a privately owned company based in Birmingham

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, United States, involved in the mining and processing of coal and coal products. The company was founded in Jasper, Alabama

Jasper, Alabama

Jasper is a city in Walker County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 14,659. As of 2011 the population had was 13,857. The city is the county seat of Walker County, and once ranked among the world's leading producers of coal....

 in 1935 by H. E. Drummond, and remains under the management of his sons.

Overview

Drummond operates the Shoal Creek mine in northwestern part of Jefferson County

Jefferson County, Alabama

Jefferson County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Alabama, with its county seat being located in Birmingham.As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Jefferson County was 658,466...

 in Alabama and the Pribbenow and El Descanso mines near La Loma

La Loma

La Loma is a town in the Coclé province of Panama.- Sources :* – World-Gazetteer.com...

 in the Cesar Department

Cesar Department

Cesar Department or simply Cesar is a department of Colombia located in the north of the country in the Caribbean region, bordering to the north with the Department of La Guajira, to the west with the Department of Magdalena and Department of Bolivar, to the south with Department of Santander, to...

 in northern Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. Both mines produce bituminous coal

Bituminous coal

Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...

. Output from Shoal Creek is sold to Alabama Power under long-term supply contracts. Production from Pribbenow, comprising almost 50% of all coal mined in Colombia, is exported to 11 countries.

The company also owns Alabama By-Products Corporation, also known as ABC Coke, located in Tarrant, Alabama

Tarrant, Alabama

Tarrant is a city in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States southeast of Fultondale. At the 2000 census the population was 7,022.-Geography:Tarrant is located at .According to the U.S...

. The company also owns Rancho La Quinta Country Club in La Quinta, California.

Controversy

In 2001 masked gunmen assassinated union leaders Victor Orcasita and Valmore Locarno at a Drummond mine in Colombia. Families of the victims accused the company of involvement. A senior former officer of Colombia’s executive intelligence agency reported witnessing Drummond’s top official in the country paying the assassins with a large suitcase of cash.

Drummond announced in July 2010 that it had hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch in its plans to look for a strategic partner to expand its El Descanso mining operations in northern Colombia.