The mines in Dunlow, Wayne County, are expected to stop operating on December 27, along with the Wayne County River Terminal office in Kenova.

The mines and facility’s 177 workers have been given Warning Adjustment and Retraining Notifications letters, and the WARN Act notice documents were filed with the Department of Commerce on October 25.

The Kiah Creek Transport complex in Dunlow and Kenova will close the same day. The 59 employees of the trucking services group have also been given WARN letters.

“A series of adverse events including, without limitation, the inability to timely secure permits, interruptions in operations due to regulatory enforcement actions and weak coal market conditions have given management no choice but to make the decision to begin the process of winding down production operations at Argus,” Argus and KCT official James Booth told the Associated Press.

“This has been a very difficult decision and we are deeply saddened by the loss of jobs that will result from the idling of our operations.”

The company said that some of those impacted by the closing may be retrained for other positions, including reclamation work.