SIC 1241 Coal Mining Services

Contenidos

• NAICS CODE(S).
• INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT.
• ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE.
• BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT.
• Historical Precedents.
• The Ups and Downs of the Coal Industry.
• CURRENT CONDITIONS.
• INDUSTRY LEADERS.
• FURTHER READING.

SIC 1241

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in performing coal mining services for others on a contract or fee basis. Establishments that have complete responsibility for operating mines for others on a contract or fee basis are classified according to the product mined, rather than as mining services.

NAICS CODE(S)

213113

Support Activities for Coal Mining

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

The companies classified in this category are a small but growing part of the overall coal industry. According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the industry employed 4,790 workers in 2001, down slightly from the figure for 1997. Construction and extraction workers accounted for more than half of these employees, who earned an annual salary of $34,000 on average. Although coal mining services as an industry has grown in absolute terms (relative to total coal production), its share of total coal production, which reached 1.09 million short tons in 2002, was less than 2 percent. The total number of coal mines in operation in 2002 totaled 1,426, compared to 2,746 a decade prior.

ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE

The increase of mining services as an industry in its own right largely reflected cost-cutting measures on the part of the coal mining industry. They often cut costs by increasing use of nonunion workers to perform many of the tasks previously performed by union workers. Contract mining services also grew due to the fact that many larger coal interests simply diversified their operations or got out of certain aspects of coal mining.

With specific services contracted out, firms can avoid a large commitment of capital investment and small entrepreneurs have seen a profitable opening. Thus, faced with erratic demand conditions, the industry has seen an increase in flexible conditions of production, including just-in-time methods, which create smooth production, reduce turnover times, and thereby reduce downtime. Flexible work rules involving eradication of union work rules—or at the very least, union cooperation—have contributed to mine efficiency. In any case, with various degrees of contract services, the number of large independent operators continues to decline according to some industry observers, with efficiency forcing the competition process.

Approximately 300 establishments provide services to the coal industry on a contract basis. These companies provide services ranging from removal of overburden, stripping the mine face, auguring or culm bank mining, drilling services, mine tunneling, and shaft sinking. Most of these establishments and multi-establishment firms are small; only 50 have more than 19 employees and, of these, only 14 have 100 or more.

The most significant revenue source in the coal mining services industry is strip mining, followed by stripping overburden, sinking mine shafts, driving mine tunnels and drilling and blasting. In terms of major area of geographic concentration, the larger companies engaged in coal mining services (with 20 or more...