Covid-19 threatens coal mines in US rural areas

摘要

More US coal mines are at risk of closing as Covid-19 spreads to rural areas and economic uncertainty pervades. The pandemic and reduced demand already have led to the temporary idling of as much as 89mn short tons/yr (81mn t/yr) of US production capacity, based on last year’s output fgures. Of the 100 US mines that produced the most coal in 2019 and were still active before the outbreak, 30 are owned by com- panies that have temporarily idled production at at least one facility.