The operations have started in Spiedel and Shugert South in Belmont County.
Westmoreland Resources has also started operations at Wheeling Valley AAA surface mine in Harrison County, Ohio. However, it has no plans to open two other mines that already have received permission from the US state.
The company owns small surface mines having output range between just under 500,000t to 1.5 million tonne over the life of the mines.
Energy info provider Platts cited Westmoreland senior vice president of operations Greg Honish as saying that Spiedel is the largest of the new mines, which is expected to have total output of more than 1.5 million tonne.
However, the company is not planning to open its new Richmond surface mine in Jefferson County or the Buttermilk surface mine in Belmont County until next year due to slump in coal prices.
The company itself produced 1.1 million tonne in the first quarter this year, down from 1.4 million tonne it produced last year.