According to local newspaper the Billings Gazette Alpha subsidiary Alpha Wyoming Land bid $US143.4 million for the Cabello West tract, a 1024-acre coal lease southeast of Gillette that is perched between Peabody’s Caballo mine to the north and Alpha’s Belle Ayr mine to the south.

The bid, which breaks down to $1.10 per tons of mineable coal, defeated Peabody’s sealed bid of $127.6 million – and also beats the former 97-cent-per-ton record bid set by Arch Coal for a tract in 2005.

The BLM estimates Caballo West contains 130.1 million tons.

The agency told the paper that Alpha and Peabody were the only two companies bidding for the lease area, which was initially nominated for federal lease by Peabody division BTU Western Resources as part of a plan to expand its Caballo operations.

“The process is competitive, and we look forward to proceeding with our 1 billion ton reserve position at the Caballo Mine,” Peabody spokesperson Meg Gallagher told the paper.

The BLM has held four coal lease auctions over the course of the US summer; Peabody took the one held just last month with a $210.7 million bid for the 1671-acre Belle Ayr North tract.

The bid beat out Alpha Coal West, and the company now has access to the tract’s 221.7 million tons of coal.

The bureau told the Gazette last month that the last two lease sales were the first to receive multiple bids since 2004.