May 21 2012
Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) today announced the lease of 402 million tons of ultra low sulfur coal reserves adjacent to its North Antelope Rochelle Mine (NARM) in the Southern Powder River Basin of Wyoming. The company submitted the successful bid of $1.11 per mineable ton for control of the South Porcupine reserve area. The bid was conducted through a sealed bid auction process.
The company plans to incorporate the five-square-mile block into its mine plan for NARM following a permitting process. The South Porcupine tract is adjacent to NARM and was originally nominated for lease by Peabody in 2006. A second set of reserves – the North Porcupine area – is also contiguous to NARM. Peabody has nominated North Porcupine for bid, and a lease auction is anticipated in the second quarter.
Peabody now controls 3.3 billion tons of Southern Powder River Basin coal reserves, and the company's flagship NARM is the largest and most productive coal mine in the world, shipping 109 million tons of the world's cleanest coal in 2011. Peabody is well-positioned to serve long-term demand growth for Powder River Basin products in domestic and expanding Asian export markets.
Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in sustainable mining and clean coal solutions. The company serves metallurgical and thermal coal customers in more than 25 countries on six continents. For further information, go to PeabodyEnergy.com and CoalCanDoThat.com.