The company announced in October 2005 that it would lay off 100 people amid plans to close the mine; the closure statement was made during its third-quarter earnings report.
Consol vice president of investor relations Thomas Hoffman said the company will continue to look at the mine’s needs, according to local television news station WTRF, and that it intends to keep as many miners working as possible.
Shoemaker is the Pennsylvania-based coal producer’s highest sulfur-level mine and did not make economic sense from a cost structure perspective, the company said in October. Also, the operation does not have a full belt haulage system to move coal from the face to the preparation facility.
The mine will likely continue producing coal into the spring of 2007 – when its current contractual obligations expire – and then be permanently idled after completion of its 1B and 2B longwall panels.
