TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Alpha Natural Resources has resumed production ahead of schedule at its Emerald longwall coal mine, in Pennsylvania, after a roof fall interrupted operations last month.

The incident, on November 18, disabled the Emerald mine's main conveyor line and shut down coal production.

No employees were injured during the roof fall or the repair efforts, Alpha said.

There were also no interruptions to customer shipments as the mine made deliveries from available inventory.

"The outstanding efforts of employees allowed repairs to be made safely and in less time than we had originally anticipated,” Alpha president Kurt Kost said in a statement.

Alpha, the fourth-largest coal-miner in the US, has operations in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Wyoming.

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.