Bloomberg reported Thursday that executive vice-president and chief financial officer Frank Wood had announced the possible plans at a New York industry conference.

“We want to buy properties that generally will play in all markets,” he said.

“We want to expand the met coal footprint.”

The company was seeking deals that would provide it with the best synergies with current operations as well as the best valuation benefit.

An Alpha spokesperson did not return an ILN request for comment or more details, including any timetable for an acquisition move.

Alpha has been talked about as a potential buyer for Massey Energy. Neither company has confirmed discussions or any possible deals; both also told ILN last week that they did not comment on merger and acquisition rumors.

Massey holds about 1.3 billion tons of met coal reserves in Appalachia. The media has named several other potential suitors for a Massey buyout, either in whole or in part, including Consol Energy and Coal India, with the latter confirming discussions last week.