Wyoming State Office
| Contacts: | Beverly Gorny, 307-775-6158 | |||
| Mary L. Wilson, 307-775-6015 |
South Porcupine Coal Lease Sale Winning Bid Over $446 Million
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wyoming State Office announced today that BTU Western Resources, Inc., a subsidiary of Peabody, submitted a successful bid of $446,031,863.88 ($1.11 per mineable ton) for the South Porcupine Field Coal Tract.
The successful bid met or exceeded BLM's estimate of the fair market value of the tract and was accepted.
The 3,243.03 acre South Porcupine Field Coal Tract contains an estimated 401.83 million tons of mineable coal. The coal resource to be offered consists of all reserves recoverable by surface mining methods.
The lease-by application (LBA) tract is adjacent to the North Antelope Rochelle Mine. The tract was offered for sale in response to a LBA filed by BTU Western Resources, Inc., Gillette, Wyo. They were the lone bidder at the sale.
Once a lease is issued, an annual rental payment of $3 per acre is required, along with a royalty payment of 12.5 percent of the value of coal produced by surface mining methods.
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.
Wyoming State Office 5353 Yellowstone Road Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009