In its second quarter financial call, producer chairman and chief executive officer Kevin Crutchfield discussed the stoppage that left the Greene County mine idle since July 15 and said it a production resumption was expected in the “back half of August”

“The Cumberland mine remains down while we work to address the roof conditions at the headgate,” he said, noting that once the existing panel was completed crews would position it to move to the next panel “in the late September to October timeframe”

Alpha warned the impact on Alpha's eastern steam coal shipment volumes as well as its cost of coal sales per ton for the region in the third quarter would hinge in large part on the completion of ongoing remediation work at the area.

“Obviously, this event will impact our Pitt 8 sales and our Eastern cost of coal sales per ton in the third quarter,” Crutchfield said.

“We've issued force majeure notices to our Cumberland customers for the time being.”

As a result of the issues, Alpha said its whole-year adjusted cost to coal sales for the eastern region would be in the range of $72 to $76 per ton. It expects to update the financial community following the restart of Cumberland’s operations.

Costs at Cumberland and its sister mine Emerald were about $52/t for 2.2 million tons it produced in the second quarter.

According to the company’s data, the Cumberland operation shipped 6.4Mt last year and Emerald shipped 4.2Mt.