Another buyer has entered a potential bankruptcy deal that could allow two idle Wyoming mines to reopen but would in effect pay the coal company to do so, the Associated Press reported. Bristol, Tennessee-based Contura Energy said on Wednesday that it reached a tentative deal to pay Jasper, Alabama-based FM Coal $90 million to take the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines. Contura also would pay Campbell County $13.5 million for unpaid local taxes. In exchange, FM Coal subsidiary Eagle Specialty Materials would settle certain outstanding debts to creditors and assume $237 million in reclamation bonds associated with the mines. The proposal relieves Contura of future liabilities associated with the Powder River Basin mines while providing “long-term employment opportunities for hardworking miners” and government revenue, Contura Chairman and CEO David Stetson said in a statement.
