The former Bandmill plant, which was destroyed in an August 27 blaze, will now be called Zigmond Processing after longtime Massey employee Richard Zigmond.

The facility, which serves the producer’s Logan County resource group – made up of four underground metallurgical mines and two surface steam coal operations – restarted last week, almost a month before the projected December 1 date for recommencement of operations.

“Our investment in this rebuilt, state-of-the-art preparation plant demonstrates our commitment to central Appalachia,” Massey chairman Don Blankenship said.

“The reopening of Zigmond Processing will have a major economic impact in Logan County.”

Zigmond Processing processes coal via a heavy media vessel, heavy media cyclone, reflux classifiers and froth flotation. The 1200tph capacity plant will also have a new batch-weigh flood loadout capable of loading 15,000t trains in four hours.

None of Massey’s 72 employees working at the former Bandmill facility were injured in last year's fire.

State and federal officials said at the time that the blaze began inside the structure and that some of the top floors in the five-storey structure collapsed. To date, the cause has not been publicly reported.