A federal bankruptcy judge in West Virginia yesterday approved a new plan to sell two of the biggest coal mines in the U.S., the Associated Press reported. Under the deal, West Virginia-based Blackjewel would sell the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines in northeast Wyoming to Eagle Specialty Materials, a subsidiary of Alabama-based FM Coal. Blackjewel halted almost all Wyoming operations and furloughed some 600 employees in the state when it filed for bankruptcy July 1. The sale could allow the mines to reopen. About 500 employees who haven’t taken other jobs could go back to work, Blackjewel attorney Stephen Lerner told Judge Frank W. Volk. The court in August approved the mines’ sale to Tennessee-based Contura Energy, a former owner and ongoing Wyoming permit-holder. The deal didn’t go through, however, as government officials seeking to collect federal coal royalties withheld approval.
