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Cleo Oo7 <br />Puh?;c I???QS?? <br />Total of 101 laid off at West Elk Mine <br />Written by Kathy Browning, Delta County Independent <br />Wednesday, 24 June 2009 00:00 <br />Mountain Coal has laid off more workers, this time hourly and salaried employees. Kim Link, <br />spokesperson for West Elk Mine, confirmed on June 18 that there were permanent layoffs at West Elk. <br />Following is the official statement from Link, who is based at Arch Coals's St. Louis corporate <br />headquarters: "Due to continuing weakness in U.S. coal markets, Mountain Coal found it necessary to <br />reduce the workforce at the West Elk mine near Somerset, Colorado. Sixty-one full-time employees (both <br />hourly and salaried) were released this week. Additionally, service agreements with two contract <br />companies that provided approximately 40 contract miners previously were terminated on June 1. <br />Following these cuts, West Elk mine now employs approximately 350 people. <br />"Mountain Coal deeply regrets the need for this action. Unfortunately, U.S. coal markets have undergone <br />an unprecedented contraction in recent months. U.S. coal demand is expected to decline by more than <br />100 million tons in 2009 due to continuing economic weakness, significantly reduced electricity demand <br />and a sharp decline in industrial activity. <br />"West Elk expects to operate at reduced rates for the remainder of 2009. The mine expects to return to <br />more normal production rates once economic activity rebounds. We aren't prepared to provide a revised <br />production projection at this time. We are still gauging market demand. When operating normally, the <br />West Elk mine produces more than 6 million tons per year." <br />Link added that last year the West Elk Mine moved to the new E coal seam and production has been <br />lower than normal.