New Century Coal ¬– a producer which claims over 10 million tons of blue gem coal reserves – said it acquired 8000 acres of property for blue gem mining, while West Virginia-based Keener Ridge Coals snapped up coal leases and mining permits in the blue gem-rich region of Kentucky’s Knox County on the Tennessee border.
Blue gem coal, which commands a price as much as 200% higher than high-quality thermal coal, is produced almost on the Kentucky-Tennessee border.
North American Gem began mining blue gem coal in April this year and said it was offloading the last of its coal mining operations in the region to KRC in exchange for a $US1.50 per ton royalty on all coal sold from the Knox County site.
The New Century deal includes the acquisition of land in nearby Whitely County where the proposed Meadow Creek mine will produce blue gem coal.
According to New Century, blue gem is only known to exist in Kentucky’s Knox and Whitely Counties.
