Alpha Natural Resources Inc. is planning to file for bankruptcy protection in Virginia as soon as Monday as the biggest miner of U.S. coal used in steelmaking struggles amid the worst commodities slump in more than a decade, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The company’s senior lenders including Citigroup Inc. and Davidson Kempner Capital Management plan to provide a loan to fund the company through bankruptcy. The company is in talks with the creditors over a plan that would include shutting mines. Bristol, Va.-based Alpha Natural would follow rivals Walter Energy Inc., Patriot Coal Corp. and James River Coal Co. in filing for bankruptcy during the past 15 months as met coal prices dropped 72 percent since 2011.
