Peabody Energy Corp.’s shares dropped after the top US coal producer said it evacuated all personnel from an Alabama mine that caught fire on Wednesday.
(Bloomberg) — Peabody Energy Corp.’s shares dropped after the top US coal producer said it evacuated all personnel from an Alabama mine that caught fire on Wednesday.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration has been notified of the incident, which is being investigated, the company said in a statement. Peabody didn’t provide any estimates of the fire’s impact on the Shoal Creek Mine or on its overall operations. The company didn’t immediately respond to emailed questions.
Peabody said that when firefighters evacuated the mine, they reported that no flames were visible. Shoal Creek, located near Birmingham, employs 419 workers and is an underground longwall mine that produced about 800,000 tons of coal last year for steelmaking.
The company has dealt with fires in the past, notably a 2018 blaze at its North Goonyella mine in Australia. Fires in underground coal mines are notoriously hard to fight, because firefighting operations are more challenging underground and because the coal provides fuel for the blaze.
Peabody’s shares dropped about 1.6% in late trading Wednesday in New York. Trading was halted shortly before the company released its statement.
(Updates with share move)
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