Alpha issues almost 300 workers with WARN Act notices on back of coal slump
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Three operating affiliates of coal producer Alpha Natural Resources have given 292 workers at six mines and one plant in south-west Virginia and eastern Kentucky Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices, as the company expects to idle the facilities in the hope of their potential sale.
"This action is consistent with steps Alpha has taken in the past to build a sustainable portfolio of mining assets across the company's operational footprint,” Alpha executive VP of mining operations Keith Hainer advised on Wednesday.
The layoffs were triggered by persistent weakness in US and overseas coal demand, and depressed price levels, as well as government regulations that were causing electric utilities to close existing coal-fired power plants and forego construction of new coal-fired capacity.
A global supply glut had also played its part in the sustained price weakness, forcing several other North American coal producers to shutter mines and scale back operations.
The mining operations affected were the Mill Branch Coal Corporation's Dorchester and Osaka deep mines, in Wise County, Virginia, which had 134 employees; North Fork Coal Corporation's North Fork No 6 deep mine, in Letcher County, Kentucky, and the Panther No 1, Stillhouse No 1 and North Fork No 7 deep mines, which were currently idled.
A total of 111 employees worked at the No 6 mine or performed maintenance at the idled operations.
Alpha had also included the Pigeon Creek Processing Corporation's Plant No 1, in Wise County, Virginia, which had 31 employees, and Maxxim Shared Services' support personnel for the mining operations, where about 16 people were employed.
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