Alpha Natural Resources suffers further loss

US coal miners continue to suffer with Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) has announcing a net loss of US$875 million in 2014 on revenues of US$4.3 billion.

“2014 was yet again a challenging year for the coal industry,” said Kevin Crutchfield, Chairman and CEO of ANR, in a press statement. “Against this backdrop, we continue to adjust our production base and cost structure to align with current market conditions.”

Earlier this month, the company announced plans to idle several coal mines in West Virginia with the loss of 100 jobs.

“While our business has benefitted from out prudent approach to portfolio rationalisation during this prolongued coal market downturn, these have been tough decisions to make and the impact they have had on many Alpha employees is not lost on us,” Crutchfield continued.

ANR shipped 84.5 million short t of coal in 2014, compared to 86.9 million short t in 2013. The company expects a further drop in coal shipments in 2015 to between 69 and 80 million short t.

“Recent trends suggest that the thermal coal market will remain challenging in 2015,” the company said in its earnings report as prices remain low. On the metallurgical side, however, ANR was more positive, saying the market appeared to nearing a more balanced supply and demand – as long as at least modest steel production growth continued.

Written by Jonathan Rowland.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/13022015/alpha-natural-resources-suffers-further-loss-coal1886/