Alpha Natural Resources, currently reorganizing through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, will soon close eight West Virginia coal mines and their respective processing plants, the company said.
In Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices sent Monday, Alpha announced plans to idle Marfork Coal's Brushy Eagle, Slip Ridge Cedar Grove, Horse Creek Eagle, Allen Powellton and Coon Cedar Grove mines along with the Marfork processing plant and Elk Run Coal's Roundbottom Powellton Deep, Hunter Peerless and Seng Creek Powellton mines, as well as the Chess processing plant.
The company said Tuesday there are no plans at this time to re-open the underground mines once they are shuttered.
A total of 886 workers will be laid off because of the closings, which are expected to occur March 25 or within a two-week period after that date. The coal mined at the to-be-closed facilities is primarily metallurgical grade, but some can be sold in the thermal market, Alpha said.
Coal production in 2015 was up 2.4%, or 80,238 st, combined year on year at the mines to about 3.4 million st, according to Mine Safety and Health Administration data. Hunter Peerless saw the greatest gain in production, jumping 18.2% in 2015 to 840,641 st, while Slip Ridge Cedar Grove saw the largest loss in production, falling 19.5% from 2014 to 445,931 st.
