According to the Associated Press, 65 workers have been affected by the closure but all have been offered work at one of the company’s three other mines in the region.
While president Greg Patterson blamed the steel industry’s downward spiral for the closure, he told AP a skeleton crew of seven would be kept on at the mine in the event conditions improved and the operation could reopen.
Long Branch, a room and pillar operation taken over from Eastern Associated in 2004, had a staff of 80.
It produced just over 349,000 tons in 2008 and more than 472,000t in the year prior to that, according to data from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Long Branch’s No. 27, No. 23 and No. 18 Tunnel complexes are all still actively producing, while its Mine No. 20 is listed as temporarily idled.
