Sunrise Coal cuts 60 jobs as it focuses on lower-cost Oaktown mine

Houston — Indiana-based Sunrise Coal, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hallador Energy, said late Monday it is reducing its workforce by 60 employees.

The workforce reduction is effective immediately, the company said in a statement, which comes one week after the miner announced it was closing its Carlisle mine in Indiana to focus on its lower-cost Oaktown mine.

"With the permanent closure of our Carlisle mine, it is necessary that we adjust the size of our workforce to meet our sales commitments going forward," said CFO Lawrence Martin.

Hallador first idled the Carlisle mine mid-January due to "weak market conditions [that] resulted in an oversupply of domestic coal."

The idling resulted in an immediate reduction in the workforce by 90 full-time workers and caused the company to lower its annual production forecast to 7 million st from 8 million st estimated in November.

Hallador reported on March 9 that Sunrise is 100% contracted for 2020 with a sales target of 6.7 million st and 79% contracted for 2021.

CEO Brent Bilsland said on the earnings call that the Carlisle mine produced 1.5 million st last year at a loss.

"So in 2020, Oaktown will essentially be producing the same amount of tons as in 2019 without having to support the losses of the Carlisle mine," Bilsland said.