Affinity Coal Reopens Raleigh County Mine

{West Virginia}...Affinity Coal cut the ribbon on a new operation near Sophia in Raleigh County Wednesday, reopening an old mine which closed in the mid 1980's when the domestic steel market fell on hard times. Improved market conditions are fueling worldwide demand for metallurgical coal, a resources that's in short supply. Affinity is a subsidiary of United Coal which is owned by Ukrainian-based Metvest, the nation's 10th largest integrated steel producer. The company plans to hire 250 miners to run the operation in Raleigh County, which at full production, will mine 1.5 million tons of coal annually. Affinity, which expects to be fully operational in the second quarter of next year, has invested $111 million to restart the old mine which includes construction of a new prep plant. The first trainload of residual coal leftover from the construction work left the mine Wednesday.