Peabody Energy has been awarded a coal lease sale by the Bureau of Land Management for roughly $793-million. The tract is located in the Powder River Basin, and Peabody paid about a $1.10 per ton of coal, of which 721 million tons are estimated to be mineable.
Governor Matt Mead says the sale will be good for the state.
“It’s just short of 800 million dollars, which means over a course of about five years, Wyoming will get a little less than 400 million dollars from that sale,” says Mead.
The lease of the North Porcupine Coal Tract sits next to the North Antelope Rochelle Mine and the School Creek Mine. Both are mined and operated by Peabody Energy affiliates. One additional coal tract close by remains unleased.