Joint Venture with Peabody Energy (Details) - Implementation Agreement - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020	Jun. 18, 2019
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Economic interest held		33.50%
Incurred expenses related to regulatory approval process	$ 3.7
Peabody Energy Corporation
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Economic interest held		66.50%

The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=114001798&loc=d3e33918-111571

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestmentOwnershipPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

A fee charged for services from professionals such as doctors, lawyers and accountants. The term is often expanded to include other professions, for example, pharmacists charging to maintain a medicinal profile of a client or customer.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 946
-SubTopic 220
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.6-07.2(a),(b),(c),(d))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=116637345&loc=SL114874292-224272

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 946
-SubTopic 220
-Section 45
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (k)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118262090&loc=SL114874205-224268

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ProfessionalFees
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	srt_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentEquityMethodInvesteeNameAxis=aci_JointVenturePowderRiverBasinAndColoradoMiningOperationsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	dei_LegalEntityAxis=aci_PeabodyEnergyCorporationMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: