Alpha Natural Resources Inc.: Brought down by plummeting coal prices and high debt from its 2011 acquisition of Massey Energy. Assets of $10.1 billion and liabilities of $7.1 billion at the time of filing for chapter 11.

St. Louis-based Arch Coal, with operations all over the US, declared bankruptcy today. It hopes to get rid of $4.5 billion dollars in debt through this Chapter 11 reorganization. The company mines coal in Wyoming, Colorado, Illinois, and Appalachian states and says it expects operations to continue during bankruptcy proceedings.

Peabody Energy one of U.S's largest producers of coal reported a loss of over $2 billion in 2015. The St. Louis based company has extensive mining operations across the US and Australia.

The country's two largest coal mines are each laying off roughly 15 percent of their employees. Peabody Energy and Arch Coal said the cuts will affect roughly 235 workers at Peabody’s North Antelope Rochelle mine and 230 at Arch's Black Thunder mine, both in Wyoming.

The largest coal miner in the US, Peabody Energy, fiiled for bankruptcy in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Peabody’s bankruptcy filing comes after the company failed to complete the sale of its Colorado and New Mexico assets to Bowie Resource Partners. It had hoped the cash from the sale would keep it from the bankruptcy court. Its Australian operations are not included in the filing.