Murray Energy to exit New Era, West Ridge mines

OREANDA-NEWS. November 10, 2015. Murray Energy is nearing the end of recoverable reserves at its New Era and West Ridge mines.

The US thermal coal producer expects to close West Ridge in Utah by the end of this year. It will cease underground operations at the New Era mine, which is part of the Galatia complex in Illinois, by mid-2016.

The mines have "reached the end of their reserve lives," Murray told Argus.

Murray subsidiary American Coal, which runs the New Era mine, said yesterday it has laid off 44 hourly workers and 6 salaried employees because of weak market conditions. No West Ridge workers have recently been laid off.

New Era, which has been in operation for more than 30 years and which Murray has controlled since 1998, produced 5.51mn short tons (5mn metric tonnes) last year but production slipped to 2.14mn st in the first three quarters of this year, according to US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) data. At its peak, the mine produced more than 7mn st a year.

West Ridge produced 2.51mn st last year and 1.33mn st in the first three quarters of 2015. The mine has been operating since 1999 and produced more than 3mn st/yr of coal from 2006-11.