Two Alpha Coal affiliates to once more idle W Virginia coal mines

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – US coal miner Alpha Natural Resources on Friday announced that two of its operating affiliates had given employees notice that certain West Virginia coal mines were being idled in response to sustained weak market conditions and increasingly stringent federal government regulations. In compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, Alpha advised 91 Highland Mining Company employees that Highland Mining's Superior, North and Trace Fork surface mines would be shuttered.