Montana State Office
| Contacts: | Mary Apple 406-896-5258 |
BLM to Hold Coal Lease Sale
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will hold a competitive coal lease sale by sealed bid at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, November 16, 2011. The sale will be held in the 920 conference room at the BLM Montana State Office, 5001 Southgate Drive, Billings, Mont.
The 2,679.86-acre tract in Musselshell County contains an estimated 35.5 million tons of recoverable coal reserves. The tract will be offered for lease to the qualified high bidder provided the high bid meets or exceeds BLM’s estimate of the fair market value of the tract. The minimum bid for this tract is $100 per acre, or fraction thereof. The minimum bid is not intended to represent fair market value.
The Musselshell County tract is being offered for sale in response to a lease by application (LBA) filed by Signal Peak Energy LLC. The coal resource to be offered consists of all reserves recoverable by underground mining methods. The tract is located approximately 12 miles south of Roundup and is adjacent to the Bull Mountains Mine No 1.
Once a lease is issued, an annual rental payment of $3 per acre is required, along with a royalty payment of eight percent of the value of coal produced by underground mining methods.
Sealed bids must be submitted to the Cashier, BLM Montana State Office, 5001 Southgate Drive, Billings, MT 59101. Bids must be received no later than 10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 16.
For more information, or to obtain further bidding instructions, please contact Greg Fesko at 406-896-5080.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
Montana State Office 5001 Southgate Drive Billings, MT 59101