According to various media reports, Peabody has decided the complex is mined out and further expansion isn’t practical or safe.

Peabody spokesperson Megan Gallagher told Associated Press the mine’s workers will be offered a transfer to one of the producer’s 13 other Midwest mines.

To local media, Peabody spokesperson Beth Sutton added extreme geological challenges made it impossible for mining to continue, as it would pose a risk to both worker safety and its equipment.

Reported by the News-Gazette, she said workers will be involved in closing the mine over the next two months.

Vermilion Grove opened under Peabody’s subsidiary Black Beauty Coal in 2002.

The mine produced 1 million tons of coal last year using two continuous miner sections pulling from the Herrin No. 6 seam under approximately 250 feet of overburden.

It was one of half-a-dozen properties under the Black Beauty Coal umbrella, which also operated the Francisco mines, the Somerville operation and the Farmersburg complex.

Vermilion Grove’s sister portal mine, Riola, was closed in May 2006.