Today Caterpillar Inc. announced that it plans to close another plant and lay off another 240 workers as it continues to recover from drop in demand for its earth moving products from customers in the mining industry. The shutdown of the Pulaski, Va. plant, which manufactures coal haulers and other equipment, should be complete by mid 2014. This is the latest in a series of plant shut downs by Caterpillar. In October it closed a mining equipment facility in Kilgore, Texas and laid off 100 workers. Caterpillar is also expected to lay off another 900 workers at its biggest plant in Decatur, Ill.