Patriot Coal Corporation (fka PCXCQ)

[TheProfit]

Patriot Coal Corp. (PCXCQ), which has been battling with both its miners and a continuation of historically bad coal market conditions since filing for bankruptcy several months ago, lost $50.5 million in September, the company said.

In a monthly operating report filed Tuesday with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Patriot Coal attributed about three-quarters of that loss to charges related to its restructuring and reorganization. About $5.1 million of the money went to the professionals handling its bankruptcy case, while another $9.2 million was set aside for rejecting leases and other contracts. The company had reported a loss of about $30 million in August.

The report of the loss comes at a time of a multiple-front battle between Patriot and its coal miners, as well as a fight with environmental groups. The miners are trying to get Patriot's bankruptcy case moved to West Virginia, where the workers say judges are more familiar with such cases. Judge Shelley C. Chapman is still pondering whether to make the change, which is also being fought for by the federal bankruptcy watchdog. The mine workers are also suing Patriot over whether the company's bankruptcy filing jeopardized retiree benefits.

Meanwhile, Patriot continues to fight with the environmental groups over cleanup at the company's West Virginia mining complexes. Earlier this month, Judge Chapman said Patriot could argue in West Virginia that it needs more time to comply with federal pollution laws, an incremental win for the St. Louis company.

All these developments come as Patriot Coal continues to fight the harsh realities of the coal industry. Just last month, the company temporarily halted the production of about 85,000 tons of steelmaking coal because of lack of demand. That decision alone affected about 250 jobs.

Patriot and 98 of its affiliates filed for Chapter 11 protection in July, victims of the widespread problems in the coal industry.

The company was formed in 2007 from assets split from top U.S. coal-mining company Peabody Energy Corp (BTU). Patriot's mines are concentrated in central Appalachia, a region plagued by high costs after more than a century of mining there depleted much of the easy-to-access coal.

(Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review covers news about distressed companies and those under bankruptcy protection. Go to http://dbr.dowjones.com)

Write to Joseph Checkler at [e-mail]. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeCheckler.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-31-12 1230ET Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.