Arch Coal Inc. agreed to acquire International Coal Group Inc. (ICG) for $3.4 billion, or $14.60 per share.

The latest deal would make St. Louis, Mo.-based Arch one of the largest coal producers in the space, increasing its reserves by 25 percent. Boosted by the 1.1 billion tons of coal ICG has spread across its 13 active mining sites, Arch will have a reserve base of about 5.5 billion tons once the transaction is finalized.

This is the first major acquisition that Arch has made since it snagged Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview LLC in January for $25 million. That deal gave Arch access to a bulk commodity port located on the Columbia River near Longview, Wash., allowing it to meet the growing coal demand in Asia.

However, don’t expect ICG to reap the benefits of that marine terminal, or the window of opportunity it presents to doing business in China.

“On the west coast, we’re building the capacity to export into pacific markets,” an Arch spokeswoman said. “The Gulf and East Coast facilities would be how we would leverage international markets with ICG’s production,” she added.

Scott Depot, W. Va.-based ICG operates mining cites located mainly in West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia and Illinois.

“They were looking for suitors,” according to a source briefed on the situation regarding ICG’s board. She did not disclose details on rival suitors.

ICG president and CEO Ben Hatfield confirmed that the company was on the block during a conference call this morning.

Combining with Arch would generate projected revenue of $4.3 billion and $925 million in adjusted Ebitda.

So far, the board of directors at Arch and ICG have each unanimously approved the deal terms. Should ICG shareholders tender their shares, the new company expects to have “total shipments of 179 million tons of coal,” according to the release.

ICG's market cap hovers $2.9 billion, while Arch's is around $5.5 billion. Both parties are NYSE-listed.

David Hammond, Ari Terry, Rob Jones and Whit Marshall of Morgan Stanley advised Arch throughout the process, while UBS Securities LLC ran the auction for ICG.

J. D. Weinberg and Silas Lum of Covington & Burling LLP represented UBS on the sell side.

Mario Ponce of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP provided legal counsel to Arch. Randi Strudler, Randi Lesnick and Bob Profusek of Jones Day counseled ICG.

Other mining companies, centric to coal, are in deal mode as well.

Last month, an investor group led by Brookfield Special Situations Group and ARC Financial Corp agreed to acquire Canadian coal mining company Ember Resources Inc., based in Calgary, for C$125 million ($130.8 million).

Also in April, oil products and coal mining company Wintime Energy Co. Ltd., formerly known as Taian Lurun Co. Ltd., agreed to acquire a 70% interest in Shaanxi Yihua Mining Development Co. Ltd., a wholesaler of minerals and mining machines, from 44% majority owner Shaanxi Sanxing for roughly $535.4 million.

That deal was followed by two others in South Africa; Shanduka Group Ltd. sold a 29.94% stake in Shanduka Coal Ltd., a majority-owned unit of Glencore International AG, to Sentula Mining Ltd.

Sentula also acquired Shanduka Coal Investments Ltd. The two transactions had a combined value of $270.4 million.

Industrials