Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. Announces Completion of Acquisition of Warrior Coal, LLC

Business Wire, March 14, 2003

Energy Editors/Business Editors

TULSA, Okla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 14, 2003

Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (Nasdaq:ARLP), today announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of Warrior Coal, LLC (See ARLP Press Release, dated November 14, 2002). Warrior Coal is an underground mining complex that utilizes two continuous mining units employing room-and-pillar mining techniques and is located adjacent to the Partnership's Western Kentucky operations.

The transaction was funded with the net proceeds of the Partnership's recently completed public offering of 2,538,000 common units. (See ARLP Press Releases, dated February 10 and March 14, 2003).

Alliance Resource Partners is the nation's only publicly traded master limited partnership involved in the production and marketing of coal. Alliance Resource Partners currently operates eight mining complexes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Maryland.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: With the exception of historical matters, any matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to, the following: competition in coal markets and our ability to respond to the competition; fluctuation in coal prices, which could adversely affect our operating results and cash flows; deregulation of the electric utility industry and/or the effects of any adverse changes in the domestic coal industry, electric utility industry, or general economic conditions; dependence on significant customer contracts, including renewing customer contracts upon expiration; customer cancellations of, or breaches to, existing contracts; customer delays or defaults in making payments; fluctuations in coal demand, price and availability due to labor and transportation costs and disruptions, equipment availability, governmental regulations and other factors; our productivity levels and margins that we earn on our coal sales; any unanticipated increases in labor costs, adverse changes in work rules, or unexpected cash payments associated with post-mine reclamation and workers' compensation claims; greater than expected environmental regulations, costs and liabilities; a variety of operational, geologic, permitting, labor and weather-related factors; risks of major mine-related accidents or interruptions; results of litigation; difficulty maintaining our surety bonds for mine reclamation as well as workers' compensation and black lung benefits; difficulty obtaining commercial property insurance; and risks associated with our 15.48% participation (excluding any applicable deductible) in the commercial property program.

Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in the Partnership's public periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the Partnership's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001 filed on April 1, 2002, as amended on Form 10-K/A for Items 1, 2 and 8 filed with the SEC on November 25, 2002. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Partnership does not intend to update its forward-looking statements.