BLM issued the notice this week inviting companies interested in exploring a 1,040-acre federal coal reserve with Oxbow Mining to come forward, Platts said.

Oxbow shut its Colorado Sanborn Creek mine earlier this year and transferred its longwall equipment to Elk Creek, which extracts from a different seam.

The next closest mine to Elk Creek is Bowie Mine #2, which has a seam height of 107 inches and produced 5.4 million tons in 2002.