The company, which decided to sell the mine after it acquired Macarthur Coal for $4.9 billion this year, said it was still fielding offers from unnamed companies for the mine.

“Peabody Energy today confirmed that the sales process for Peabody's Wilkie Creek Mine in Queensland, Australia, remains underway and that discussions with interested parties continue,” the company said in a statement.

Peabody decided to divest Wilkie Creek because it felt it did not fit into its portfolio of Australian assets, which expanded with the Macarthur acquisition and its focus on PCI and high quality coking coals.

Wilkie Creek, in the state's Surat Basin, is near New Hope’s New Acland mine and has a resource of over 500 million tonnes and 2Mtpa of coal production.

There is some speculation a cashed-up New Hope may also make a bid for Wilkie Creek as it has been frustrated in its plans to expand New Acland because of local opposition and ongoing discussions with the new coordinator general of Queensland.

In May this year South Korean industrial conglomerate LG was reportedly in discussions with Peabody over Wilkie Creek and was believed to be willing to pay up to $700 million.

Korean companies are keen to shore up supply of coal as traditional rivals Japan as well as China and India increasingly lock in supply agreements.