The company reportedly plans to add 9,690 acres of underground area, which includes the area underneath the Wabash River and into its own reserves in Illinois.
Platts cited Indiana Division of Reclamation assistant director Pete Sartoris as saying that Sunrise Coal has already filed an application with the regulator.
The company will need to get the permit from Illinois Department of Natural Resources to complete the tunnelling into that state.
However, if the permission is granted then Oaktown 1 would extend westward which lies over Texas Gas Transmission’s large natural gas storage field, which could also create a problem.
Sartoris said: "This is something they’ll have to deal with.
"This potentially could be a problem. The storage area is below where the mining would be. They’ll be mining over it."
