With $7.1 billion in total revenue in 2011, Alpha Natural Resources is America's third-largest coal producer by revenue and third-largest by production.

But the company’s stocks fell by more than 50% last year, due considerably to weaker global demand for metallurgical coal.

In the third quarter of 2012, the firm's net loss stood at $46 million, compared to a profit of $63 million in Q3 2011, while revenues dropped nearly 30%.

Parallel companies, such as Arch Coal, have already posted poor Q4 results, citing weaker price realizations and lower volumes.

Alpha has redirected some of its focus from the sinking domestic market and towards boosting thermal coal exports to Europe and Asia.

During the first three quarters of this financial year, the firm exported about 4.5 million metric tonnes of thermal coal (about 6% of production).

This was quite encouraging considering its exports were almost nothing a few years ago.