Mining Company: ‘Substantial Number’ of Employees Will Return to Work

“A substantial number” of employees will be back to work in July when Consol Energy’s Buchanan Mine reopens, company officials said.

The mine is the largest coal mine in Virginia and, after contractors were laid off earlier this year, still has more than 500 employees, said Tom Hoffman, a senior vice president for the company. Operations at the mine were idled in March due to market conditions.

Hoffman said there were concerns that with the global economy down, steel industry customers would not buy the coal.

“We’re seeing a bit of an improvement in the steel industry,” Hoffman said. “They are using a little bit of capacity, so we’re able to come back up a little bit with them.”

He said the mine will not be producing at full capacity and it’s unknown whether all 514 of its employees will be called back.

“I think we have a way to go before we get back to what we think is normal,” Hoffman said. Still, “it’s encouraging to be able to get the mine back.”

With manufacturing plants shut down around the country and a relatively mild summer-air-conditioning season so far, Hoffman said, the demand for coal used in power plants, which is not produced at Buchanan, is also still off about 10 percent. Across the eastern U.S., coal production is down about 7.5 percent, he said.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that U.S. coal consumption for electricity generation will drop 4.6 percent this year. The reasons include falling demand and utilities switching to natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy. The result could be a 7 percent drop in U.S. coal production this year. But the federal agency also predicts the drop will be temporary. Economic recovery next year is expected to boost demand for coal once again.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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