US coal producer Alpha may close its last Kentucky mine

OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2016.  Alpha Natural Resources is preparing to close its last coal mine in Kentucky.

The US coal producer sent Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notices to employees on 8 September, indicating it may idle the Process Energy thermal coal mine in east Kentucky. The company could lay off 117 workers by 7 November or within two weeks after that.

Alpha, which exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July, said it is planning to idle the mine because of "adverse market conditions." It is the only mine Alpha has in Kentucky that was still producing this year, according to US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) data.

The company sold a handful of east Kentucky mines to Revelation Energy last year. Just before completing its restructuring this year, Alpha sold the majority of its core coal assets to Contura Energy, and said the remaining company would focus primarily on environmental reclamation and the operation of mines and preparation plants in West Virginia and Kentucky.

The Process Energy mine produced 366,245 short tons (332,268 metric tonnes) of thermal coal in the first half of this year, down from 379,357st in the same period of 2015.