A subsidiary of St. Louis-based Arch Coal has submitted a successful bid of just over $300 million for the right to mine more than 200 million tons of coal in northeast Wyoming.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced the sale Wednesday, saying the bid by Ark Land Company met or exceeded fair market value for the coal.
The 222 million tons of coal sits beneath more than three square miles of land next to the lease boundary of the Black Thunder Mine in the Powder River Basin.
The bid value of the federally owned coal comes out to $1.35 per mineable ton. That's a Wyoming record: The previous record, set in August, was $1.10 per ton.
The record bid total for Wyoming coal, set in 2004, is $611 million.
