WHARTON, W.Va. — Patriot Coal confirmed Wednesday that it has laid off a total 75 workers at two of its mining complexes in Boone County.
Patriot issued a 60-day WARN notice April 23 and said at the time at least 50 people would lose their jobs at the Wells complex in Wharton and the Corridor G complex near Danville.
A company spokesperson confirmed Wednesday 60 workers have been laid off at Wells and 15 at Corridor G.
Patriot president and CEO Ben Hatfield told MetroNews back in April both the metallurgical and thermal coal markets continued to be challenging.
“We’re working hard frankly to minimize the number (of layoffs),” he said. “We’re struggling with mines at those locations that are simply operating at cost levels that exceed the prices that we can get at the marketplace. They are literally consuming cash.”