Exhibit 99
THE BEARD COMPANY News Release
Enterprise Plaza, Suite 320
5600 North May Avenue Herb Mee, Jr., President
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73112
(405) 842-2333 OTCBB: BRCO
ANNOUNCES EXECUTION OF
POND FINES RECOVERY AGREEMENT WITH
PINNACLE MINING COMPANY, LLC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, September 7, 2004
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - The Beard Company (OTCBB:BRCO) today announced
that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Beard Technologies, Inc. ("BTI") has signed an
agreement to construct and operate a pond fines recovery facility for Pinnacle
Mining Company, LLC ("PMC"). PMC is a subsidiary of PinnOak Resources, LLC, a
coal mining and energy resources company headquartered near Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. PinnOak Resources, LLC operates two coal complexes in West
Virginia and Alabama, which together can produce 6 to 7 million tons of premium
quality steam and metallurgical coal annually.
BTI's recovery facility will be located at the Smith Branch Coal Refuse
Disposal Facility at PMC's Pinnacle Preparation Plant near Pineville, Wyoming
County, West Virginia. BTI's facility will be owned and operated by Beard
Pinnacle LLC ("BPLLC"), a limited liability company organized in June of 2004 to
arrange the financing for the new facility. The Company has been working to
secure debt financing for the project. However, there is no assurance that the
required financings will be obtained.
Under the Agreement BTI will provide all the necessary equipment and
personnel for the project. The BTI facility will process raw slurry and recover
clean coal which will be delivered to PMC. The capacity of the facility is
designed to recover between 240,000 and 320,000 tons of clean coal per year. It
is anticipated that PMC will take 240,000 tons per year of the coal at an agreed
processing fee and have the first right of refusal to accept any excess at a
reduced rate during the initial six year agreement term. The agreement is
renewable for a second term of four years if significant amounts of recoverable
clean coal remain at the end of the initial term.
Herb Mee, Jr., President of the Company, stated: "Ten weeks ago we
disclosed that BTI was actively pursuing several coal reclamation projects. Six
weeks ago we announced the Dickerson project, and we are happy to report that
our second agreement has now been finalized. BTI is already staffing up for the
Pinnacle project and expects to begin ordering equipment for the project
immediately."
The Beard Company's common stock is traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under
the symbol: BRCO. Its operations consist principally of coal reclamation
activities, carbon dioxide (CO2) gas production, the construction of fertilizer
plants in China, and its e-commerce activities aimed at developing business
opportunities to leverage starpay(TM)'s intellectual property portfolio of
Internet payment methods and security technologies.
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Statements regarding future profitability and operations, including the
timing of those activities, are "forward looking statements" within the meaning
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. The statements involve risks
that could significantly impact The Beard Company. These risks include, but are
not limited to, adverse general economic conditions, unexpected costs or delays
or other unexpected events, as well as other risks discussed in detail in The
Beard Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Beard
Company assumes no duty to update or revise its forward-looking statements based
on changes in internal estimates or otherwise.