Madisonville-resident mine maintenance, repair, and operations counter stacked with MSHA Part 46 and Part 48 instructor revenue and a District 10 federal-regulator contractor-services leg.

Active Western-Kentucky Illinois-Basin coal is current. Warrior Coal is an operating mine, not a closed permit. Alliance reports about $2.5 billion in annual revenue, roughly 3,300 employees, and around 30 million tons of annual production across Warrior, River View (Union County, Kentucky), Hamilton (Hamilton County, Illinois), Gibson (Gibson County, Indiana), and Tunnel Ridge (Ohio County, West Virginia). The Hopkins-resident operation runs continuous MSHA Part 75 underground inspections and continuous Part 48 new-miner training intake.

Break-fix counter demand is underserved at the same-shift turnaround tier. Alliance pulls catalog MRO items through national distribution — Motion Industries, Applied Industrial Technologies, Grainger, Fastenal. The 4-hour to 24-hour parts-walk-in window for production-shutdown events is the regional-distributor surface. A Madisonville-resident counter holding the high-velocity MSHA-approved SKU families (conveyor splice components, continuous-miner cutting-bit families, hydraulic-hose ferrule families, mine-rated lighting, methane-monitor sensor replacements, ground-control resin) at 90-200 SKU depth with a 24-hour on-call delivery commitment compresses out-of-region wait time to same-shift.

MSHA Part 46 and Part 48 instructor revenue is independent of Warrior. Underground-coal miners complete 40 hours of new-miner training under Part 48 plus 8 hours of annual refresher. Surface miners and shell-employee categories complete Part 46 at 24 hours new plus 8 annual. Alliance carries some Part 48 capacity in-house, but contract-trainer overflow exists for refresher windows, visiting electrical, surveying, and ventilation sub-contractor crews, and short-term-temporary classifications. The instructor lane also serves the broader Western-Kentucky residual operator base — remaining mines in Webster, Muhlenberg, and Union, plus surface preparation plants and adjacent surface-mine operators — and serves laid-off miners pursuing re-credentialing for adjacent industrial-trades work.

MSHA District 10 office Madisonville-resident is a structural feature. The district office at 100 Fae Ramsey Lane is the credentialing, enforcement, and inspection authority for Western-Kentucky underground coal. A Hopkins-resident operator carrying credible MSHA-program literacy, an instructor credential, and an inventory tied to MSHA-approved equipment families is positioned to bid on District 10 adjacent contractor-services scope: instructor pool for state- and federal-agency outreach, document-review and procedural support, mine-rescue-station equipment support, and credential-renewal coordination services that flow through District 10 and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet Office of Mine Safety and Licensing Madisonville office.

Three-anchor diversification clears SBA 7(a) concentration scrutiny. None of the three legs is substitutable for the other two. The legs cycle on different horizons. The credential stack is shared: MSHA Part 46 and Part 48 instructor, mine-rated equipment familiarity, and federal-procurement-portal literacy, so the founder runs a single credential bench against three demand surfaces. A Warrior Coal production decline of 30-50 percent over 3-5 years is a plausible downside scenario. The MRO counter compresses with production. The instructor lane survives at compressed scale — adult-learner re-credentialing demand rises when active mining declines. The District 10 contractor-services leg is independent of mine production.

MRO break-fix counter leg. Industry-typical SKU-mix gross margin in the regional industrial-distributor band runs 18-28 percent on counter sales, with on-call delivery commanding a modest service-line markup. A counter holding 90-200 high-velocity MSHA-approved SKU at $80,000-$220,000 inventory cost, plus a small warehouse footprint, a delivery van, and 1-2 counter-and-driver staff, supports $400,000-$900,000 in Year 1 counter sales against the Warrior plus adjacent-mine customer set. Year 3 mature counter sales $700,000-$1.4 million. Counter contribution to founder take-home: $35,000-$75,000 at Year 1 ramp, $75,000-$140,000 at Year 3 mature.

MSHA Part 46 and Part 48 instructor leg. Industry-typical instructor day-rates for MSHA-approved classroom and hands-on training run $400-$900 per instructor-day plus per-trainee materials. A single credentialed instructor delivering 60-120 instructor-days per year against refresher-window cadence, sub-contractor-crew overflow, and re-credentialing adult learners generates $30,000-$95,000 per year in instructor-revenue gross with low capital intensity. Adding a second associate instructor at Year 2-3 doubles capacity without doubling overhead. Instructor contribution to founder take-home: $20,000-$50,000 at Year 1, $40,000-$80,000 at Year 3.

MSHA District 10 contractor-services leg. Federal-procurement scope sized at a working range $15,000-$80,000 per year across document-review, instructor-pool, mine-rescue-equipment-support, and credential-renewal-coordination categories. Contribution to founder take-home: $5,000-$30,000 at Year 1, $25,000-$60,000 at Year 3.

Stacked Year 1 founder take-home: $60,000-$120,000 across the three legs with working-capital reinvestment on the MRO inventory float. Stacked Year 3 mature founder take-home: $140,000-$220,000.

Founder-side capital $200,000-$550,000. Inventory float $80,000-$220,000. Warehouse plus office lease deposit and fit-out $15,000-$60,000. Service van plus delivery vehicle $35,000-$70,000. MSHA Part 46 and Part 48 instructor credentialing plus materials library $20,000-$45,000. SAM.gov, federal-procurement-portal registration, and DLA-DIBBS bid-monitoring tooling for the District 10 leg $5,000-$15,000. Insurance (workers-comp at the elevated mine-services tier, general liability, auto, and E&O on instructor work): $25,000-$55,000 per year. 90-day payroll float for 3-6 FTE plus founder: $35,000-$110,000. 12-month working-capital reserve: $25,000-$80,000.

Cyclicality. The founder prices the MRO leg for a 3-to-5-year active-operating window with optionality on the instructor and District 10 stack carrying the practice through a Warrior compression scenario. The 5-year utility-coal demand environment in Western Kentucky is softening per the EIA Annual Energy Outlook 2025. Alliance has diversified into oil-and-gas mineral interests, coal-bed methane, crypto-mining data-center co-location, and export thermal-coal sales. The candidate is not a bet on coal-demand recovery; it is a three-anchor diversification posture serving recurring demand inside the active-operating window and pivots to MSHA-training-only if the MRO counter compresses below break-even.

• ARLP / Warrior Coal LLC (1924 East Center Street, Madisonville)

  Hopkins-resident active underground-coal mine — primary MRO counterparty

  Active in market

  Subsidiary of Alliance Resource Partners L.P. (NASDAQ:ARLP). 4.4 million tons per year 2024 working figure. We estimate Hopkins-resident FTE at 250-500. As of May 2026 we have not confirmed the Cardinal Mine ID, citation history, Section 7 mine-safety status, or Alliance multi-mine supplier-portal reciprocity rules.
• River View Coal LLC (Union County, Waverly, Kentucky)

  Adjacent Alliance subsidiary — supplier-portal reciprocity question

  Out-of-county

  Portable supplier-portal access under Alliance enterprise procurement would diversify the MRO leg. We have not confirmed whether a Warrior-credentialed supplier carries reciprocity at River View.
• Hamilton Mine (Hamilton County, Illinois; Alliance subsidiary)

  Secondary Illinois-Basin counterparty — supplier-portal reciprocity question

  Out-of-county

  Same supplier-portal reciprocity question applies; not confirmed.
• MSHA District 10 office (100 Fae Ramsey Lane, Madisonville)

  Federal mine-safety district office — credentialing, inspection authority, and contractor-services adjacency

  Institution

  We have not confirmed whether District 10 holds direct procurement authority for contractor services or whether scope flows through MSHA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Instructor-pool, document-review, mine-rescue-station equipment support, and credential-renewal coordination scope.
• Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, Office of Mine Safety and Licensing — Madisonville district office

  State mine-safety credentialing — foreman and electrical certification adjacency

  Out-of-county

  State-level mine-safety credentialing layer parallel to MSHA District 10. Specific contracting scope not confirmed.
• Independent Western-Kentucky underground operators (Webster, Muhlenberg, and Union remaining mines)

  Smaller remaining operators — MSHA Part 48 refresher-window demand and surface-miner intake

  Out-of-county

  Smaller residual operators, surface preparation plants, and adjacent surface-mine operators feed the instructor lane independent of Warrior.
• Madisonville Community College (KCTCS) — Mining Technology program and Workforce Solutions

  Workforce-pipeline partner, continuing-education adult-learner channel, and potential pricing competitor

  Active in market

  Current operating status of the Mining Technology program not yet confirmed. KCTCS Workforce Solutions runs the in-demand-occupation lead pipeline for the instructor pool, the re-credentialing channel for laid-off coal workers, and adjacent industrial-trades entrants.
• Western Kentucky APEX Accelerator at Murray State and the Madisonville campus extension

  Federal-procurement counseling — District 10 leg and SAM.gov supplier-portal registration

  Out-of-county

  Counseling on the District 10 leg, SAM.gov, and DIBBS bid-match support.
• SBA Louisville District Office

  SBA HUBZone certification and 7(a) / 504 lending coordination

  Out-of-county

  Hopkins County HUBZone status against the current SBA HUBZone map is not yet confirmed. The District 10 federal-procurement leg benefits from HUBZone set-aside qualification if confirmed.

The founder is mid-career with one of three backgrounds: prior MSHA Part 48 instructor credential plus mine-MRO supply or warehouse-management tenure; prior mine-electrical or mine-mechanical maintenance-superintendent tenure with willingness to add the Part 46 and Part 48 instructor credential through a 6-12 month ramp; or prior Alliance Resource or comparable Illinois-Basin operating-company tenure with established supplier-portal relationships and a credential ramp under way. A first-time founder without coal-industry tenure cannot enter this lane cold. The supplier-portal credentialing arc, the inventory-stocking arc, and the MSHA-instructor credential arc compound against the founder-capital range.

Relationship-portfolio target at launch: Warrior Coal Madisonville maintenance-superintendent and procurement contacts; River View Union County and Hamilton, Illinois supplier-portal contacts (verifying Alliance multi-mine reciprocity); the MSHA District 10 Madisonville office District Manager; the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet Office of Mine Safety and Licensing Madisonville office; the MCC continuing-education and Mining Technology program contact (if the program is operating); the KCTCS Workforce Solutions in-demand-occupation lead; the Western Kentucky APEX Accelerator at Murray State and the Madisonville campus extension for federal-procurement counseling on the District 10 leg; the Hopkins County Regional Chamber industrial-roster contact; and the SBA Louisville District Office HUBZone certification contact. Ten to sixteen named contacts by end of Year 1.

Entity and credentialing posture. Kentucky business license, KOSHA workers-comp, general liability at the elevated mine-services-tier insurance band, MSHA Part 46 and Part 48 instructor credentialing, federal-procurement-portal literacy (SAM.gov and DIBBS), Alliance supplier-portal credentialing, and Kentucky contractor-of-record where dispatch into the mine workings is in scope. Insurance broker of record with a Western-Kentucky mine-services-experienced broker. The three-leg structure provides natural hedging across the coal-demand cycle.

The practice is an owner-operator three-anchor diversification structure built on a shared credential bench across three demand surfaces. There is no platform-rollup arithmetic. National multi-trade mine-services firms (Cintas Industrial, Bell Equipment, and comparable) do not compete at the 4-hour to 24-hour parts-walk-in window from out-of-region depots, and the District 10 contractor-services leg is tied to Madisonville residence.

• — Warrior Coal 2025 production tonnage against the current MSHA Mine Quarterly Employment Report and Alliance 10-K segment reporting — top priority.
• — Warrior Coal Hopkins-resident FTE count; the 250-500 estimate is wide, and a tighter band gates counter inventory float and instructor day-rate sizing.
• — The MSHA Cardinal Mine ID, citation history, and Section 7 mine-safety status against the MSHA data-retrieval system.
• — Whether MSHA District 10 holds direct contractor-services procurement authority or whether scope flows through MSHA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
• — Whether the Madisonville Community College Mining Technology program is currently operating, and the instructor-pool size — a potential pipeline partner or pricing competitor.
• — Alliance multi-mine supplier-portal reciprocity rules — whether a Warrior-credentialed supplier carries portability to River View and Hamilton.
• — Hopkins County HUBZone status against the current SBA HUBZone map — the District 10 federal-procurement leg benefits from HUBZone set-aside qualification if confirmed.
• — KCTCS Workforce Solutions adult-learner re-credentialing volume against the laid-off-miner pool — sizes the instructor leg.
• — MSHA Part 46 and Part 48 instructor credential pathway and renewal cadence.
• — Insurance-broker quote at the elevated mine-services-tier workers-comp underwriting band.

Tonight, this week, this month — in that order. Each step produces a yes/no or a number, not a deeper understanding.