The operations are located in West Virginia, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, though neither a statement from officials nor the filed court paperwork indicated the specific operations that would be included. A planned November 5 hearing on the case and proposed sales procedures may add some clarity.
January 20, 2016, has been set as a target date for bids on the properties; should an auction be held, it will take place at the office of Jones Day in New York City. The approval of a bankruptcy judge will likely follow a month later.
The full filing is available here.
The announcement comes less than one month after Alpha confirmed it would lay off 79 workers at the Edwight surface mine and 13 more at Independence Coal’s Tunnel mine by November 30. The mines are neighbors in Naoma, Raleigh County. Alpha cited “adverse market conditions” for the decision.
