A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has set a Jan. 27 auction, and Jan. 29 hearing to consider the results of that auction, which will cover most of the assets of Lily Group, which controls the idled Landree deep coal mine in Indiana.
Lily Group, which had only recently developed the Landree mine, sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2013. In a Jan. 10 order, the judge in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana approved an amended version of the auction plan.
The judge’s order noted that Indianapolis Power & Light, which has a contract to buy coal from Lily Group, can object to any plan to assume this contract. U.S. Energy Information Administration data shows deliveries last year by Lily Group out of Landree to the utility’s Harding Street power plant under a contract to expire in December 2014.
Among the assets to be sold at auction include mining equipment, mine permits and a 2010 coal lease with the Indiana Rail Road. The company said its assets including the previously operational Landree deep mine, which has been maintained since being idled, and an unpermitted coal reserve under the Landree mine.
Lily Group was founded in 2008 and was acquired in 2012 by VHGI Holdings. U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration data shows that the Landree mine, located in Sullivan County, got a production start in the fourth quarter of 2012 and produced a total of 21,674 tons in the first three quarters of 2013.
