November 16, 2019 - Alliance Resource Partners said Friday it has idled its Gibson North coal mine.

A drop in seaborne demand led to the idling of the Illinois Basin mine, Joseph Craft III, chairman, president and CEO of the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company, said.

"A substantial portion of production from the Gibson Complex has been dedicated to supplying the international coal markets," said Craft. "The export markets have deteriorated over the last seven months and have contributed to an over-supplied domestic market."

"Although we anticipate coal markets will improve, predicting when a rebound may occur is difficult and led to our actions today," said Craft. "Until conditions improve, this production response at the Gibson North mine allows ARLP to adjust volumes from the Gibson Complex to meet current demand expectations at the lowest cost possible."

Alliance subsidiary Gibson County Coal issued a Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice Friday to roughly 185 employees, the company said.

Gibson North was reopened in the second quarter of 2018 to take advantage of booming export demand, and produced 881,000 st during the year, according to US Mine Safety and Health Administration data.

This year, Alliance said the mine produced roughly 1.7 million st through October.

The company said it does not expect the idling to have any impact on its earnings guidance announced October 28, which included full-year coal production of 40.1-40.4 million st and coal sales volumes of 39.1-39.5 million st.

Both seaborne and domestic coal markets have suffered this year at the hands of cheap natural gas, increased renewable generation and aggressive decarbonization efforts from utilities and regulators.