The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday rejected the biggest total bid it has received for Wyoming coal reserves in more than seven years, saying it was below the reserves’ estimated fair market value.

A subsidiary of St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp. bid $362 million for slightly more than 400 million tons of Powder River Basin coal reserves. BTU Western Resources was the lone bidder for the South Porcupine Coal Tract next to Peabody’s North Antelope Rochelle Mine.

The BLM keeps its fair-market-value figure confidential. However, BTU Western Resources’ bid of 90 cents per ton was less than the winning bid of $1.35 per ton at the last Wyoming coal lease sale in December. MORE …