PINEVILLE, W.Va. — Officials with Cliffs Natural Resources said the company no longer has immediate plans to idle the Pinnacle Mine in Wyoming County.
Company officials confirmed to MetroNews Friday that the Pinnacle Mine, near Pineville, will continue to operate at its current capacity — meaning 450 coal miners will keep their jobs beyond the end of August.
In June, Cliffs Natural Resources announced the mine could be idled on Aug. 25 through a WARN, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification. If that would have happened, only 40 miners would have remained at the site.
Metallurgical coal which is used to make steel is produced at the Pinnacle Mine, a site that Wyoming County officials have called the largest mine in Wyoming County.
The decision to keep the mine site in production follows a management change for Cliffs. Lourenco Goncalves has been named the company’s CEO after Casablanca Capital, a hedge fund with a stake in Cliffs, gained six of the eleven seats on the company’s Board of Directors.
According to national reports, those with Casablanca Capital support splitting up the company to focus on the most profitable iron ore sites.
Cliffs Natural Resources is based in Cleveland, Oh.