Gibson County Coal laying off 120 by the end of 2015

The company, a subsidiary of Alliance Resource Partners, issued the lay off notices, in the wake of concerns regarding the coal markets.

ARLP issued a news release reporting production at the Gibson South mine near Owensville will increase production units by Dec. 31, with the Gibson North mine idled.

According to the release, the cuts were made to reduce production at higher cost mines and focus on maximizing production at lower cost mines.

ARLP operates 11 mining complexes in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland and West Virginia.

“Unfortunately, prolonged weak market conditions made this production response necessary,” said President and CEO Joseph W. Craft. “We deeply regret the impact of these decisions on our employees, their families and their communities.

“While we were hopeful that conditions would improve, an oversupplied market combined with weak pricing forced us to take these actions and shift production to our lowest-cost mines.

“These steps are consistent with our current projected production and sales volumes for 2015 and beyond.”

Similar layoffs were made at Seebree Mining (Onton Mine) in Seebree, Kentucky, affecting 140 employees.

The Gibson North mine, which began operations in 2000, generated almost 4 million tons in production volume and coal sales combined in 2015.

Officials estimated the life of that mine at 15 to 20 years when it opened.

According to the company’s website, its reserves were estimated at 26.5 million tons at the beginning of 2015, and its preparation plant has a throughput capacity of 700 tons of raw coal an hour.

The Gibson South mine completed last year has reserves estimated at 76 million tons and its preparation plant has a throughput capacity of 1,800 tons of raw coal per hour, according to the company. Gibson County Redevelopment Commission created a TIF district to help improve road infrastructure near the new mine.