Arch Coal is citing market troubles for its decision to withdraw a federal coal lease proposal that would have expanded its Jacobs Ranch complex by nearly 1 billion tons.
The company’s Ark Land subsidiary recently asked the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to rescind its proposal for the 6,000-acre West Jacobs Ranch lease in northeastern Wyoming.
Arch first acquired the federal lease request when it purchased Jacobs Ranch from Rio Tinto in 2009.
According to the Associated Press, the BLM currently lists just six pending lease applications in the Powder River Basin (PRB) that are under review; the most recent was entered in 2001, and nearly all have been delayed by market conditions.
