ST. LOUIS, March 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As a result
of market conditions, Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) has made the
difficult decision to reduce approximately 235 hourly and salaried
employees from its North Antelope Rochelle Mine in the Powder River
Basin to align the workforce with customer needs.
"While our asset position and contracting strategies give us
relative strength, we are taking these actions to match production
with customer demand," said Peabody President – Americas Kemal
Williamson. "We regret the impact of these actions on our
employees, their families, and the surrounding communities in the
Campbell and Converse county
areas."
The reductions affect approximately 15 percent of the workforce
at the North Antelope Rochelle Mine. The company is taking
steps to ease the transition through severance and outplacement
support. Williamson noted the company has regularly worked to
minimize job impacts by actively anticipating and adjusting
staffing resources, managing contractors and temporary employees,
and using natural turnover to lower staffing levels.
U.S. coal industry conditions have remained challenged, impacted
by an oversupply of natural gas and mild winter weather. The
U.S. coal industry has seen unprecedented shipment declines this
year. Heating degree days year-to-date are 17 percent lower
than last year, with March heating degree days down nearly 30
percent versus the 10-year average.
While all basins have been impacted, the latest Energy
Information Administration production estimates show that the
Powder River Basin is faring better than other regions given cost
advantages. In addition, the company believes the decrease in
shipments is leading to stockpile reductions in excess of prior
expectations.
Peabody's Powder River Basin operations employ approximately
1,500 workers with approximately 1,150 employed at the North
Antelope Rochelle Mine following these reductions. The
company's Powder River Basin operations injected $5.5 billion in direct and indirect economic
benefits into the region this past year.
Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal
company and a global leader in sustainable mining, energy access
and clean coal solutions. The company serves metallurgical and
thermal coal customers in 25 countries on six continents. For
further information, visit PeabodyEnergy.com.
CONTACT:
Beth Sutton
(928) 221-6792
Certain statements included on this release are forward-looking
as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
The Company uses words such as "anticipate," "believe," "expect,"
"may," "forecast," "project," "should," "estimate," "plan,"
"outlook," "target," "likely," "will," "to be" or other similar
words to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements are made as of the date the release was filed and are
based on numerous assumptions that the Company believes are
reasonable, but they are open to a wide range of uncertainties and
business risks that may cause actual results to differ materially
from expectations. These factors are difficult to accurately
predict and may be beyond the Company's control. The Company does
not undertake to update its forward-looking statements. Factors
that could affect the Company's results include, but are not
limited to: supply and demand for the Company's coal products;
sustained depressed levels or further declines in coal prices;
competition in coal markets; price volatility, particularly in
international seaborne products and in the Company's trading and
brokerage businesses; adequate liquidity to operate our business
and service our debt obligations; impacts of our high leverage and
our ability to comply with the covenants in our credit agreements,
particularly our leverage ratio and interest coverage covenants;
our ability to successfully consummate the planned divestiture of
our interest in the Prairie State Energy Campus; the cost,
availability and access to capital and financial markets, including
the ability to secure new financing; ability to appropriately
secure our obligations for reclamation, federal and state workers'
compensation, federal coal leases and other obligations related to
our operations, including our ability to remain eligible for
self-bonding and/or successfully access the commercial surety bond
market; customer procurement practices and contract duration;
impact of alternative energy sources, including natural gas and
renewables; global steel demand and the downstream impact on
metallurgical coal prices; lower demand for our products by
electric power generators; impact of weather and natural disasters
on demand, production and transportation; reductions and/or
deferrals of purchases by major customers and the Company's ability
to renew sales contracts; credit and performance risks associated
with customers, suppliers, contract miners, co-shippers, and
trading, banks and other financial counterparties; geologic,
equipment, permitting, site access, operational risks and new
technologies related to mining; transportation availability,
performance and costs; availability, timing of delivery and costs
of key supplies, capital equipment or commodities such as diesel
fuel, steel, explosives and tires; impact of take-or-pay
arrangements for rail and port commitments for the delivery of
coal; successful implementation of business strategies, including,
without limitation, the actions we are implementing to improve our
organization and respond to current market conditions; negotiation
of labor contracts, employee relations and workforce availability,
including, without limitation, attracting and retaining key
personnel; changes in postretirement benefit and pension
obligations and their related funding requirements; replacement and
development of coal reserves; effects of changes in interest rates
and currency exchange rates (primarily the Australian dollar);
effects of acquisitions or divestitures; economic strength and
political stability of countries in which the Company has
operations or serves customers; legislation, regulations and court
decisions or other government actions, including, but not limited
to, new environmental and mine safety requirements, changes in
income tax regulations, sales-related royalties, or other
regulatory taxes and changes in derivative laws and regulations;
our ability to obtain and renew permits necessary for our
operations; litigation or other dispute resolution, including, but
not limited to, claims not yet asserted; any additional liabilities
or obligations that the Company may have as a result of the
bankruptcy of Patriot Coal Corporation, including, without
limitation, as a result of litigation filed by third parties in
relation to that bankruptcy; litigation, including claims not yet
asserted; terrorist attacks or security threats, including, but not
limited to, cybersecurity threats; impacts of pandemic illnesses;
and other risks detailed in the Company's reports filed with the
SEC.
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SOURCE Peabody Energy