Tri Cities reported that a substantial number of employees will be back to work in July when Consol Energy’s Buchanan Mine reopens.

Mr Tom Hoffman senior vice president for the company said that the mine is the largest coal mine in Virginia and after contractors were laid off earlier this year still has more than 500 employees. Operations at the mine were idled in March due to market conditions.

Mr Hoffman said that there were concerns that with the global economy down, steel industry customers would not buy the coal. We’re seeing a bit of an improvement in the steel industry. They are using a little bit of capacity, so we’re able to come back up a little bit with them.

He said the mine will not be producing at full capacity and it’s unknown whether all 514 of its employees will be called back. He added that “I think we have a way to go before we get back to what we think is normal. Still, it’s encouraging to be able to get the mine back.”

Mr Hoffman said that with manufacturing plants shut down around the country and a relatively mild summer air conditioning season so far, the demand for coal used in power plants, which is not produced at Buchanan is also still off about 10%. Across the eastern US, coal production is down about 7.5%.

The US Energy Information Administration predicts that US coal consumption for electricity generation will drop 4.6% this year. The reasons include falling demand and utilities switching to natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy. The result could be a 7% drop in US coal production this year. But the federal agency also predicts the drop will be temporary. Economic recovery next year is expected to boost demand for coal once again.

(Sourced from tricities.com)