Record high coal prices suggest, and industry analysts and executives confirm, that demand for Appalachian coal is at an all-time high.

Yet that demand hasn’t produced companies, jobs and new mines that a 1970s coal boom produced.

Pennsylvania mines are hiring hundreds of people, and plan to hire thousands in the next five years or so, but most of that hiring is driven by a need to replace a rapidly retiring work force. Total mining employment in 2007 inched up by about 140 jobs.

Coal companies have opened some mines, but they’ve shut down others and total coal production in the state dropped by 1.5 million tons to 65.8 million tons in 2007.

Industry officials and state mine regulators agree that the number of mining companies is, if anything, shrinking.

So where’s the boom?

It’s at PBS Coals, which has laid 8.2 miles of railroad track in Stonycreek in Somerset County, to reach the preparation plant it’s refurbishing so it can ship out more coal.

It’s at Joy Global, parent company of Warrendale-based Joy Mining Machinery, which had a record $1.2 billion worth of orders for mining equipment in April, May and June and has a $2.5 billion backlog of machinery orders.

get more story at : New mines lag as coal booms in western Pa.

source : centredaily.com

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