(CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The Viper Mine in Elkhart is shutting down after losing City Water, Light & Power as a customer. The mine employed close to 300 miners, but it is now down to a skeleton crew dismantling equipment and selling off the remaining coal that’s already been mined, according to Michelle Ownbey, publisher of the Springfield Business Journal. Appearing on the WTAX SBJ Report, Ownbey said Jim Smith, the president of Knight Hawk Coal, told SBJ the closure was because CWLP canceled their contract. Viper Mine was trying to significantly increase the price for coal per CWLP, according to Ownbey.

The mine opened in 1982, and the CWLP was one of its largest customers.

In November, the Springfield City Council approved an $85 million coal purchase from Foresight Coal Sales, LLC, noting it submitted the best proposal and would supply coal from its Hillsboro mine. Starting in 2025, the city will pay $40 per ton for coal in the first year of the four-year contract, with the price rising to $46.75 per ton by the fourth year.