J-E Editor
Employees at Alliance Resource Partners’ (ARLP’s) Sebree Mine learned on Friday that a number of employees at the Webster County operation, which ARLP has owned since 2012, would be reassigned to other mines in the area.
On Monday, Sebree Mining LLC General Manager Dan Durham confirmed those reports.
“It’s our way of adjusting to the present condition of the coal market,” Durham said. “In a way it’s a big deal, but it’s really not.”
Durham confirmed that approximately 50 full time miners were offered positions at other mines in the area.
“We’re trying to make sure that nobody get’s laid off and that everybody has the chance to continue working for the company,” he added. “Everyone is still working. Everyone is still with Alliance.”
Many of the positions that will now be filled by Sebree miners were previously held by employees of temporary services. ARLP has been scaling back the involvement of temporary workers in preparation for the current situation.
Earlier this year ARLP announced the acquisition of White Oak Mine No. 1, an underground longwall mining operation located in Hamilton County, Illinois for $50 million.
As of July 31, 2015, ARLP was expecting a yearly coal production of 42.8 to 43.5 million tons and sales volumes in a range of 42.7 to 43.8 million tons. According to the company’s figures, that amounts to revenue of approximately $2.37 to $2.41 billion for 2015.
ARLP reports that it has already secured additional agreements for approximately 31.2 million tons, 13.0 million tons and 9.6 million tons in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively.
In January, ARLP officials announced that the company would be closing it’s Elk Creek Mine in Hopkins County in early 2016, but that closure was a result of that particular mine running out of coal. As of Monday, officials with ARLP say that closure is still on track, although a specific date is not set in stone.
Prior to the purchase of White Oak, ARLP reported holding nearly 540 million tons of coal reserves in the Illinois Basin, including 452.2 million tons of coal reserves in Webster, Union and Henderson counties. ARLP has not confirmed the amount of coal available through the White Oak purchase, but some reports estimate as much as 500 million tons of coal were included in the deal. That would push ARLP’s Illionois Basin coal reserves over the billion ton mark.
ARLP is a diversified producer and marketer of coal to major United States utilities and industrial users. ARLP, the nation’s first publicly traded master limited partnership involved in the production and marketing of coal, is currently the third largest coal producer in the eastern United States with mining operations in the Illinois Basin and Appalachian coal producing regions.
ARLP currently operates eleven mining complexes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland and West Virginia.
Reach MATT HUGHES
at 270-667-2068 or
matt@journalenterprise.com
They lied about everything. They kept 50 out of 290 men underground.
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