Vectren Corp. announced Friday that 120 area coal miners will lose their jobs next week when the utility company completes the sale of its coal-mining subsidiary.
On July 1, Vectren announced that it was selling its coal-mining subsidiary, Vectren Fuels, to Terre Haute-based Sunrise Coal for $296 million.
The deal includes three Vectren Fuels-owned underground mines: two in the Knox County town of Oaktown, and one in the Pike County city of Petersburg.
Oaktown miners are employed by Black Panther Mining, which has the contract to operate that facility. Petersburg miners are employed by Five Star Mining, which holds the contract to operate that facility.
The Vectren Fuels sale is scheduled to close Aug. 29. At that time, its contracts with Black Panther and Five Star will end.
Sunrise has extended job offers to most — but not all — of the miners at the affected operations.
According to a written statement from Vectren, "Vectren has been informed that while offers of employment following the sale have been extended to more than 670 members of the current workforce at the mines, approximately 120 miners have not been offered employment."
These miners, Vectren said, have been released from their jobs so that they can begin looking for new work. The affected individuals will remain on Black Panther and Five Star payrolls through the end of this month.
Based in Terre Haute, Sunrise is an energy company whose primary focus is on underground coal mining in the Illinois Basin. Sunrise was founded in 2002, and it became a subsidiary of Denver-based Hallador Energy in 2006.
Sunrise spokeswoman Suzanne Jaworowski said she could not comment on the layoffs because the deal has not yet closed.
In a press release issued last month when the deal was first announced, Hallador provided some background on its plans for the Vectren Fuels operations.
Vectren's two Oaktown mines are seven miles south of Sunrise's Carlisle underground mine, Hallador said, and the Oaktown 2 mine is adjacent to Sunrise's War Eagle coal reserve.
"This acquisition enables Sunrise to mine our War Eagle reserve, which is adjacent to the Oaktown 2 mine, through the Oaktown 2 portal without spending the approximately $150 million in capital expenditures that would otherwise be necessary to develop War Eagle to its full capacity," Hallador President and Chief Executive Officer Brent Bilsland said in the news release.