Coal Demand Down Due to Slow Economy
The longwall production at the Blacksville No. 2 coal mine has been idled for a seven-week period beginning this week.
And one official said layoffs are possible if demand for coal doesn’t increase.
CONSOL Energy Senior Vice President Tom Hoffman said the decision to slow down production at the mine was a result of the economic slowdown. Because people are using less electricity there is less demand for coal.
Blacksville No. 2 coal mine produces high-Btu bituminous coal, which is also mined at seven other area mines.
Hoffman said idling Blacksville’s longwall provided the greatest amount of savings to CONSOL. The Blacksville mine typically produces 440,000 tons of coal per month.
Longwall mining includes the removal of large rectangular blocks of coal from a mine, then allowing the roof in the mined area to collapse, according to an Energy Information Agency report on longwall mining.
The coal mine is not entirely shut down as the continuous miner development section continues to operate, Hoffman said. These are sections that are mined by machines other than the longwall, which mines more coal at a faster rate than the other methods.
If the economy improves, Hoffman said he expects the mine to resume coal production. If not, the company will have to look at continuing the work slowdown or take more drastic cost-cutting measures.
“Obviously there would have to be layoffs, if we continue to be idle,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman said no final decisions have been made, and CONSOL will have to look at its options with Blacksville if the market doesn’t improve or demand doesn’t increase.
“I don’t know what we’ll do if the market continues to be soft,” Hoffman said.
Anytime the economy is down, United Mine Workers of America District 31 President Rich Eddy said miners are fearful about what might happen to their careers. The Blacksville mine sits in District 31.
Eddy said because the demand for coal is down and the mine has been idled, the miners can’t help but keep the economic situation in the back of their minds.
However, Eddy said there is some hope for demand to increase as summer rolls along.
“We’re somewhat optimistic,” Eddy said.
Even with this recent idling of the longwall production, Eddy said nobody has been laid off, and nobody is sitting at home waiting for the mine to reopen. All Blacksville No. 2 miners have been put to work in other parts of the mine.
The longwall production at Blacksville is scheduled to resume July 18, Hoffman said. The last three weeks are part of the annual miners’ summer vacation period. The summer vacation is typically two weeks — beginning June 27 this year.
Eddy said the miners are paid for two weeks of summer vacation, and they’ll have the choice this year of working that third week or having unpaid time off.
Hoffman said there is still plenty of reserve coal in the mine, and he is hopeful normal production will resume in the middle of July.
source:http://www.dominionpost.com/.
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