Alabama-based Walter Energy, Inc. (TSX:WLT) will be idling its Canadian operations, which include two coal mines in British Columbia, leading to temporary layoffs of around 700 employees in the province.
The Wolverine mine near Tumbler Ridge will idle immediately, and the Brazion mine near Chetwynd will continue operations until July. Both mines will operate their preparation plants to complete already-mined coal processing.
“These coal reserves remain valuable assets,” said chief executive officer Walter J. Scheller III. “However, given the current met coal pricing environment, our best course of action at this time is to idle these operations until we can achieve reasonable value from these reserves.”
The temporary layoffs will apply to 415 employees at Wolverine and 280 at Brazion, with “a limited number” of staff remaining at each site to perform the preparation work, equipment maintenance and security.
“These layoffs are particularly unfortunate because our employees have worked very hard to keep these mines competitive in the face of daunting market conditions,” Scheller said.
The Wolverine and Brule mines were the seventh and ninth largest mines in B.C., respectively, on Business in Vancouver’s listing of the biggest mines in the province in 2013.
As of press time, Walter’s share price was trading at $8.88 – a drop of 1.22%. This is down from $21.87 one year ago.
