Consol Energy to lay off 233 miners at Enlow Fork coal mine at end of August
Consol Energy Inc. has filed a notice with the state that it plans to lay off 233 workers at its Enlow Fork Mine at the end of August.
Those 233 miners — and the remainder of Enlow’s workforce, which, according to spokesman Zach Smith’s count last month, was about 500 — have been furloughed since mid-April.
The Cecil-based coal producer said in a statement that “in these unprecedented times, it is extremely difficult to predict when our production at Enlow Fork Mine will return to normal capacity, as it is always our intent to run our operations based on market conditions.”
“In the interest of keeping our employees informed and meeting all legal requirements we issued the WARN Notice to a portion of employees who will not be recalled from furlough at this time.
Situations can certainly change and we will continue to monitor daily.”
What’s not clear is whether Enlow Fork is headed for some kind of slow restart.
Mr. Smith did not reply to follow-up questions beyond the initial statement.
The Enlow Fork Mine is one of three sister mines in Consol’s Pennsylvania Mining Complex. The others, the Bailey Mine and the Harvey Mine, are operating.
Coal demand, already stressed by cheap natural gas and renewable energy, suffered another hit with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Consol initially idled its Bailey Mine for several weeks in early April after some miners tested positive for the virus. When it brought Bailey back online, the company announced that Enlow would be idled indefinitely.