mines

Some sites have sat unattended for decades.

The agreement calls for NTEC to make one payment right away, then monthly for a year.

Officials say part of the agreement was that the Navajo Transitional Energy Company would pay royalties accumulated since May.

Eagle Specialty Materials says the shovels are essential to keeping the mines open and hundreds of miners at work.

Those fees amount to about 1% of the bond total, or about $1 million annually, Harbage said.

Blackjewel attorneys say the companies will seek replacement bonds.

The new deal that would transfer the mines from Contura to FM Coal also would need approval from a bankruptcy judge and Contura's board of directors.

Nearly 600 people worked at the vast, open-pit mines, which were among the most productive in the U.S.

Wyoming Machinery Co., owns a lot of equipment at the mines and it provides monthly about $3 million in maintenance and other services.

BNSF Railway, which has hauled coal from the Belle Ayr and Eagle Butte mines in Campbell County, is aware that their owner Blackjewel LLC, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy business reorganization, a BNSF spokeswoman said in an email Wednesday...