KOP, i personally know the former owner of the mine. No, he was not involved in all the shenanigan's that the exec's went to prison for. He lost a ton on money on this deal. He is a KY native and been a coal miner all his life. In addition to visiting the mine, he showed me the mine plan and maps. They were just about to hit a nice 40" seam.
As I said all along, it is a nice little mine with good quality steam coal and in a tight met market (particulary, the lower cedar seam), could be sold for met. The lower cedar is hot as a firecracker.
Either someone doesn't know how to mine coal or they don't want to mine it. Mined properly, they should be producing 30-40,000 tons a month from each mine.