Walter spokesman Dennis Hall confirmed Friday afternoon the company gave notice of the plan to North River employees on March 15.

The initial plan was to idle the Fayette County mine by the northern summer of 2014, but Hall said the “depressed thermal coal market” was cited for its decision to fast-track this.

Hall said that of the mine’s 320 employees, 131 had already been stood down. Another 70-80 were offered work at the producer’s other local mines, Jim Walter No. 4 and Jim Walter No. 7 near Brookwood.

“That leaves about 190 at the mine to recover equipment,” he said, adding there was no timeline for that phase.

With the knowledge that North River, which first opened in 1974, would soon be mined out, Walter Energy is already well into the development of the Blue Creek Energy complex.

Hall confirmed the mine was scheduled to open in late 2017 or early 2018.

During its long lifespan, North River had several owners. Walter purchased the property three years ago from Chevron, which in turn bought the reserves from Pittsburg and Midway.

The original operator was Republic Steel.

Walter first announced its plans for Blue Creek in northern Tuscaloosa County last year. It is investing about $1.2 billion in the construction of the mine and related terminals, railway and port facilities.

Blue Creek, expected to employ about 450, will produce a metallurgical coal at the initial rate of about 3-4 million tons annually.