Cliffs to slash coal output, affecting 355 jobs04.12.09
Mining company Cliffs Natural Resources said it will further cut production of metallurgical coal and layoff an additional 355 workers at its mines as the global economic downturn continues to batter the steel industry and drive down demand.
In West Virginia, the company's Pinnacle Mining Co. unit has indefinitely idled its Greed Ridge No. 1 mine and will halt production at its Pinnacle mine for two months starting April 13. These actions will result in about 290 layoffs, the company said.
Its Alabama unit, Oak Grove Resources LLC, will reduce operations at its Oak Grove mine and Concord Prep Plant, laying off 65 workers.
The continued downturn of the steel industry, which uses coal to fuel steel mill blast furnaces, has sharply pulled back demand for coal and has prompted Cliffs, along with other mining companies, to cut production and issue a series of repeated layoff announcements.
Cliffs said these recent production cuts put the company's 2009 annual operating rate at about 2.2 million tons.
https://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/04/12/ap6281873.html