PINEVILLE, W.Va. — Cliff’s Natural Resources Inc., announced on Wednesday that it has filed a WARN notice with the state of West Virginia and the United Mine Workers of America stating its intentions to idle the company’s Pinnacle Mine on or around Aug. 25, according to Cliff’s spokesman Ryan Thorn.
“The persistent depressed pricing and oversupply in the metallurgical coal market for the past year has put cost pressures on the business,” Cliff’s stated in a press release announcing the WARN notice. “Pricing is below the mine’s cash costs and at a point where it is becoming uneconomical to operate at these levels.”
The federal government requires businesses with 100 or more employees to issue WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act) notices when the company expects to idle a plant (or mine) in 60 days. There are about 575 coal miners working at the Pinnacle Mine.
Thorn stated that Cliff’s senior leadership team “will monitor industry and business conditions over the next two months. If market dynamics do not improve, we will temporarily idle operations at Pinnacle mine beginning on or around Aug. 25.”
Thorn stated in response to an email question that, “the exact number of impacted employees is not yet known…