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Alpha Natural idles 3 mines, others continue to operate for now

Alpha Natural idles 3 mines, others continue to operate for now

Photo by Reuters

26th September 2014

By: Henry Lazenby

Creamer Media Deputy Editor: North America

  

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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Bristol, Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources on Friday reported that three of its operating affiliates had notified their employees that the coal mines where they worked would be idled, resulting in job losses.

However, one mine that had expected to be idled would continue to operate, while eight other mines had extended the period of time they would continue to operate.

In terms of the requirements under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, notifications had originally been issued on July 31 at 11 different West Virginia mine sites, including certain support operations, advising workers that their facilities were subject to being idled on September 29, owing to sustained weak market conditions and government regulations challenging the Central Appalachian mining industry.

Independence Coal's Twilight (Progress) surface mine, in Boone County, and Pioneer Fuels' Ewing Fork No 1 (Pax) surface mine, in the Kanawha and Raleigh counties, would be idled immediately. Some 193 positions would be eliminated while about 35 employees would be retained to perform reclamation work and wind down operations to an idled state.

The two mines would be maintained in a condition for the immediate future that would allow them to restart should market conditions and coal demand improve. Combined, the two sites shipped about 760 000 t of steam coal in the first half of this year and 660 000 t of metallurgical coal.

Alex Energy's Edwight mine in Raleigh County did not extend its WARN notification period and would continue to operate as usual.

Alpha added that the eight operations that received WARN extension notices, with a revised idling date of November 26, or within the following two-week period, included Highland Mining's Superior, Reylas, Freeze Fork and Trace Fork surface mines in Logan County and the North surface mine, in the Mingo and Logan counties.

Further, WARN extension notices were given to Black Castle Mining's surface mine in Boone County, Republic Energy's Republic and Workman Creek surface mines in Raleigh County, and additional technical and other support services for these mine operations.

Another Alpha affiliate, Marfork Coal, on Friday notified employees that it was eliminating 68 positions across several of the company's operations and would idle the Marsh Fork mine, in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Marsh Fork was not part of the group that received WARN notices in July. The mine shipped about 100 000 t of metallurgical coal in the first half of this year.

Alpha's Wyoming-based Alpha Coal West subsidiary was holding job fairs for Alpha-affiliated workers to fill openings at their two large surface mines in the Powder River basin. Some individuals might also accept positions with other Alpha affiliates.

Cumulatively, these actions were triggered by persistent weakness in domestic and overseas coal demand and depressed pricing, along with government regulations that were causing electric utilities to close coal-fired power plants and forego new construction.

A glut of coal had also contributed to falling coal prices in international markets. The benchmark price of coal shipped to power plants in Europe continued to hover at a four-year low, while prices for metallurgical coal used to make steel remained depressed throughout the year, reflective of oversupplied markets.

“This is another step in the ongoing process of adapting to a dynamic coal market, with operations making adjustments to match the opportunities we see. Our operations managers and our sales group are working together to ensure that we're in balance with customer demand and able to sustain the company profitably from the set of mines that will continue to operate,” Alpha president Paul Vining said.

Several North American operators had idled unprofitable mines. Alpha joined a slew of other coal miners, such as Consol Energy, Walter Energy and Patriot Coal, that had, in recent months, either given notice to idle mines, or had shuttered operations, as they battled stubbornly low coal prices.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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