November 7, 2026 - Bluegrass Natural Resources says it stopped production at two Kentucky coal mines for commercial reasons and moved 87 workers to other operations, with no workers laid off in those transfers.

Production stopped at Orchard Branch F on Sept. 14 and at Orchard Branch Owl on Oct. 16, Jeremy Wilson, the company’s director of safety and human resources, said in a Nov. 5 email. Both mines are in Harlan County. Wilson said both are expected to restart, but no date has been set. He gave no further detail on the commercial reasons.

Wilson said 36 workers moved from Orchard F and 51 from Owl. “The crews transferred to other operations to start other MMU’s,” he wrote, referring to mechanized mining units. “No workers were laid off for this transfer.”

Satellite view of the Cumberland area of Harlan County, Kentucky, near the Orchard Branch mines, on Oct. 27, 2026. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026.

He did not name the receiving operations. Skillings has asked.

In that Nov. 5 response, Wilson said three employees remained at Orchard F to maintain the mine and a maintenance crew remained at Owl. Skillings has asked him to confirm the size of the Owl crew. Asked whether the changes affected the timetable for any replacement or expanded operations, he said no.

What the federal records show

MSHA lists both mines as nonproducing and names Javelin Global Commodities (UK) Ltd as controller. Its status date for Orchard F is Sept. 14, the same date Wilson gave. For Owl, MSHA’s status date is Oct. 19, while the company reported production stopping Oct. 16.

Orchard F averaged 42 employees in the second quarter and Owl averaged 58, according to MSHA’s Oct. 30 data. Those are operator-reported averages that exclude contractors and predate the production stops. The transfer figures come from Bluegrass.