Mining Co. Considering Bankruptcy

The Billings Gazette reports that Westmoreland Coal Company stock fell to 26 cents a share on Tuesday after the company– which owns three Montana mines– indicated it would consider bankruptcy.

The Colorado-based company, which feeds the Colstrip power plant from the Rosebud Mine, and whose Absaloka Mine has been a major source of income for the Crow Tribe, revealed in its annual report– filed late, perhaps due to the potential bankruptcy development– that neither mine had coal sales contracted beyond 2019. The company also operates Savage Mine, a smaller producer in Eastern Montana.

Westmoreland’s problems were reportedly not limited to its Montana holdings. Gary Kohn, the company’s chief financial officer, said in a news release that they were trying to stabilize. The news comes two weeks after Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality heard Westmoreland’s case for expanding the Rosebud Mine.