Alpha Natural Resources Inc. is expected to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today to cut its more than $3 billion debt load as a severe slump in coal prices continues to wreak havoc on the industry, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Bristol, Va.-based company, one of the largest U.S. coal producers, hasn’t completed the terms of a restructuring plan but will likely sell some of its best mines or turn them over to creditors and close others during its trip through bankruptcy court. Alpha has secured as much as $600 million in bankruptcy financing from senior lenders and secured bondholders to fund its operations during its chapter 11 case. A steep drop in coal prices has Alpha and its rivals bleeding cash and choking on debt taken on to finance acquisitions around the start of the decade, when the industry’s outlook was rosier. In 2011, Alpha paid $7.1 billion for rival mining company Massey Energy Inc., a deal that extended Alpha’s lead as the largest miner of the type of coal used in steelmaking.
