The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has conducted coal lease sale for a coal tract under the Dunn Ranch property in La Plata County, Colorado.
The tract comprises 2,462 acres and is estimated to contain about 9.5 million tonnes of recoverable bituminous coal.
Subject to final approval of coal lease, the selected firm is required to pay an annual rent of $3 per acre, as well as a royalty payment of 8% of the value of coal produced by underground mining methods.
Tract offered for sale in response to GCC Energy’s lease-by-application
Located approximately 20 miles (32.1km) west of Durango, the tract was offered for sale in response to GCC Energy’s lease-by-application. The tract is situated adjacent to the company’s King II coal mine.
BLM said in that the one bid received from GCC Energy out of Tijeras, New Mexico, for $3,434,400, or $1,394.92 per acre, is considered preliminary.
BLM said in a statement: “If the BLM sale panel determines that a high bid meets or exceeds fair market value, the BLM will only issue the lease after the Department of Justice has been allowed 30 days to conduct an anti-trust review of the bidder’s coal holdings.”
Following assessing the potential impacts of leasing of the coal resource in an Environmental Assessment, the BLM had issued a Finding of No Significant Impact and a Decision Record in October 2019.
Separately, the BLM, Carson City District, Stillwater Field Office has approved the Bell Mountain Mine Project located in Nevada.
The Bell Mountain Exploration’s gold and silver mine will comprise open pit mining and heap leach processing located in Churchill County, Nevada, approximately 40 miles (64.3km) southeast of Fallon, Nevada.
