On Wednesday, the company said in connection with the takeover the Lily Group had secured debt financing of $US13 million to refinance existing debt, pay vendors and cover the costs of the transaction as well as short-term working capital.

“This is an important step in the development of our business plan,” VHGI chief executive officer Doug Martin said.

“Our initial goal was to complete this transaction in our Q1 of 2012, which we have accomplished.

“Our next goal is to close additional debt financings for Lily Group in order to pay off certain indebtedness, exploit current mining operations and possibly acquire other coal mining opportunities.”

VHGI first announced in mid-January that it had purchased all of the Lily Group’s capital stock from sole shareholder Rick Risinger.

Risinger – who continues to serve as president of VHGI Coal – explained on Wednesday why the company selected VHGI subsidiary VHGI Coal to be its partner.

“They have the financial expertise and wherewithal to bring what we needed to develop our mine,” he said.

“We look forward to exploiting our opportunities at the Landree Mine, as well as other coal mining opportunities.”

In January, Martin called Landree the “pinch pin” of its plan to be a significant player in the Midwestern coal mining market.

“The Landree mine became operational under the superb leadership of Rick Risinger,” Martin said.

“With the help and support of Rick's management team and our dedicated Lily Group employees, our plan is to extract over 21 million salable tons of coal onsite while using our company's cash flow to acquire and develop other coal opportunities, first in Greene County, Indiana and then beyond.”

In addition to energy and mining, VHGI has assets and interests in precious metals and healthcare technology.