Employees of company’s Rockspring Development’s Camp Creek Underground Mine and Processing Plant in Wayne County, West Virginia have been notified about idling of the mining and processing operations.
The notice has been issued under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
The company has blamed the present market conditions, low overseas coal demand and tough government regulations, forcing electric utilities to close existing coal-fired power plants.
The company also said that excess coal supply has caused reduction in coal prices.
Last week, three Alpha-affiliated mine operators announced reduction in their workforce as a result of weak market conditions and government regulations.
Total of 71 jobs are to be cut, which includes 17 jobs from Enterprise Mining’s EMC #9 underground mine in Knott County in Kentucky along with Roxana Prep plant in Letcher County.
Around 35 positions will be cut from Knox Creek Coal’s Tiller #1 underground mine in Tazewell County, VA , and 19 jobs from Mill Branch Coal’s Dorchester and North Fork underground mines.
Alpha Natural Resources’ CEO Kevin Crutchfield said: "This is an unprecedented time in the coal industry and Alpha continues to take difficult but necessary actions to ensure that our production is aligned with the reduced market demand we see today and anticipate in the future.
"These actions are consistent with steps we have taken in the past to build a smaller but more sustainable portfolio of mining assets across our operational footprint."
