The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today held a competitive coal lease sale by sealed bid for the Flat Canyon Coal Tract -- a 2,692 acre area in Sanpete County that is estimated to contain approximately 42 million tons of recoverable coal and is adjacent to the Skyline mine, which contains other federal coal leases.The BLM received one bid from Canyon Fuel Company, LLC, out of Midvale, Utah, for $17.2 million or $6,388.92 per acre. However, this result is considered preliminary and will not be confirmed until the BLM sale panel determines if the bid meets or exceeds the estimated fair market value for the coal resource in the Flat Canyon tract; the BLM will not accept any bid that is less than estimated fair market value; a date has not been set for the sale panel meeting. If the BLM sale panel determines that a high bid meets or exceeds fair market value, the BLM does not issue the lease until the Department of Justice has conducted an anti-trust review of the bidder's coal holdings. When a coal 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 strip or auger mining methods and eight percent of the value of coal produced by underground mining methods. The Flat Canyon Coal Tract will be mined using underground methods.For more information on coal leasing procedures, please contact Jeff McKenzie at (801)539-4038. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to leave a message or question with the above individual. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Replies are provided during normal business hours.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
