Alpha Natural Resources announced late Friday it plans to idle two surface mines in southern West Virginia, laying off 130 miners at its Bee Tree Mine in Raleigh County and the Twilight Mine in Boone County. The layoffs will begin July 10th. Alpha officials say the market is soft for both metallurgical coal produced at Bee Tree and thermal coal mined at Twilight, and the very low price for natural gas is also having an impact. Alpha says it does have openings at several of its other operations and the laid-off miners are encouraged to apply at those mines.
