The agency said the Colorado mines, versus the same period in 2015, have sliced output from anywhere between 14% and 96%; the latter is from the closure of the Bowie No. 2 operation, which dropped from about 856,000 tons last year to 33,395 tons this year.
Colorado measures the performance of nine total mines: Bowie, Colowyo, Deserado, Twentymile, King II, New Elk, New Horizon North, Trapper Strip and West Elk. Bowie and New Elk are now both idle.
From the nine combined, production for January 1 through June was a little more than 5.73 million tons. Twentymile was the leader of the group with 1.72 million tons.
The mine group also reported a total of 12 on-the-job injuries (none of the reported incidents were fatal). Deserado had the most with seven, followed by Twentymile and Trapper with two each.
Year-over-year, only one of the Colorado’s mines increased employment; New Horizon North added one for a new total staff of 21. Cuts elsewhere, which ranged from 1% to 45%, were topped by West Elk, which fell to 192 employees from 350 last June.
