It is reported that federal officials will hold a lease sale on February 28 for 35.5 million tonnes of publicly owned coal near Roundup.

The sale marks the second time the Bureau of Land Management has offered the underground coal tracts for lease. The agency in November rejected a USD 5.3 million offer from Signal Peak Energy as insufficient.

Signal Peak wants another sale to be held because acquiring the leases is a key component of its mining plan. The coal tracts are in the path of Signal Peak 300 employee Bull Mountain mine.

Signal Peak is jointly owned by two Ohio companies, Boich Co and FirstEnergy and the Gunvor Group of Europe.

The BLM has not disclosed how much it thinks the coal is worth.

(Sourced from www.therepublic.com)