Uinta County economic development director Dell Atkinson told the Uinta County Herald that owner Kiewit Mining planned to suspend all work at the mine until it saw where the coal industry was moving.

“The coal market is very, very soft,” he said, estimating an 11% year-on-year drop.

Atkinson said some of the workers at the site, who began work last September ahead of a June open, would probably be relocated at other Kiewit operations.

“I’m hoping this is just a temporary thing, and I think it is … and I think they think it is, too,” he told the paper.

“We’re going to have to watch it and see where it goes.”

Atkinson told the Herald that Kiewit was expecting to hire 100 local workers and produce up to 1.5 million tons of sub-bituminous coal annually.

According to the company’s data on the project, it was planning to mine five spate coal seams ranging from 25-75 feet in thickness.

Its lifespan was projected to be 15 years using an 18 cubic yard hydraulic excavator and a fleet of 100t haul trucks.