Peabody Energy has closed its Viking surface coal mine in Daviess County, Indiana, several months after the mine had been expected to cease operations because its reserves of high-sulfur steam coal were running out.
"Production operations at Viking mine have been finalized," Peabody spokeswoman Charlene Murdock confirmed in an email Tuesday.
The mine formerly owned by Black Beauty Coal had been slowly winding down for a while, and was expected to close in late 2013.
After producing nearly 1.5 million st of coal in 2011, Viking's output dipped to 1.3 million st in 2012 and finally to 1.1 million st in 2013, according to the US Mine Safety and Health Administration.
In the first three months of 2014, Viking turned out only 106,101 st, MSHA figures show.
Though St. Louis-based Peabody knew Viking was existing on borrowed time, the company decided late last year to continue production for at least a few more months.
Viking was operated by Peabody Midwest Mining, a Peabody subsidiary.
Peabody acquired Black Beauty more than a decade ago and still operates several former Black Beauty mines in southern Indiana. Peabody's largest mine in the state, however, is its Bear Run surface mine in Sullivan County. Bear Run, opened in 2010 and the largest surface mine east of the Mississippi River, produced 8.3 million st in 2013 and 2.1 million st in the January-March period.
