Arch Coal accelerates Mountain Laurel transition to room-and-pillar

NYSE-listed Arch Coal on Friday announced that it had discontinued longwall operations at its Mountain Laurel mine in Logan county, West Virginia, three months earlier than planned.  The move is expected to reduce Arch’s fourth quarter coking coal volumes by between 150 000 t and 200 000 t and its fourth quarter operating results by about $20-million compared with previous expectations.