By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The Jesse Creek Mining company in Alabaster has shuttered operations, laying off more than 100 workers, and the Alabama Department of Commerce has set a pair of emergency response meetings to help the affected workers.

The coal mining company headquartered on Kent Dairy Road in Alabaster closed unexpectedly on March 27, laying off 126 workers, according to the Department of Commerce.

In response to the closure, the Department of Commerce will hold meetings for the affected employees at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on April 4 at the Hampton Inn at 93 Metro Drive in Calera.

“These meetings will explain the benefits afforded to the dislocated workers through federal and state resources,” read a Department of Commerce statement. “The resources will include: How to apply for unemployment benefits, training scholarships for high wage high demand jobs, on the job training opportunities, job searching tools, reimbursement of relocation expenses up to $3,500, mortgage assistance up to $35,000, health insurance options, 401k and retirement assistance, food assistance and other social service programs. The meetings will last no longer than one hour, and multiple meeting times are available.”

The Alabaster closure came a little more than three years after the company closed its Montevallo operation, laying off about 170 employees, citing an “increasingly difficult coal market.”