Cratering demand signals more trouble in coal country

The shift from coal to cheaper and cleaner fuel sources like natural gas and renewables claimed another victim in the U.S. last week. Peabody Energy said it will close its Wildcat Hills coal mine and nearby Willow Lake processing facility in southern Illinois before year-end due to “uneconomic mining conditions.” The announcement — which affects 225 workers — followed news in September that Peabody ended cash tender offers to buy back debt, due to poor market conditions. In June, the pure-play coal company signed a deal with Arch Coal to combine the companies’ assets in the Powder River basin and Colorado into a joint venture to save costs and strengthen their competitiveness against natural gas and renewables. More cutbacks and layoffs are likely, particularly in the Powder River basin of Wyoming and Montana. “We expect that at least a few Powder River basin mines will close in the early 2020s,” Moody’s Investor Services commented in an Oct. 16 research note. Continue reading at The Northern Miner.