Under the plan, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Virginia, the company intends to sell its core mines and other major assets for US$500 million -- plus the assumption of liabilities -- to a group of senior lenders, unless someone else comes along with a better offer.

The assets for sale include opened and closed mines in Wyoming, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania; its interests in a coal export terminal in Virginia; and its interests in a natural gas exploration business.

“There’s been no shortage of prospective interest from buyers for Alpha’s core assets,” Ted O’Brien, chief executive officer of Doyle Trading Consultants LLC, told BloombergBusiness in an interview.

“The question is, who would be willing to put down $500 million in cash plus the assumption of liabilities to take those assets?”

The asking price might be too much for some these days, but five years ago, it would have been a fraction of the mines’ worth. As Bloomberg pointed out, Alpha in 2011 acquired Massey Energy Co. for US$7.1 billion in cash and stock.  

The deal made Alpha one of the top metallurgical coal suppliers globally.   

Whatever remains unsold will be folded into a reorganized Alpha, whose new purpose primarily will be to fulfill all of its environmental reclamation obligations, the company said.

"By leveraging core assets for sustainable productivity, while addressing the stewardship obligations of our remaining properties, these filings represent an important step in our effort to effectively restructure the company and emerge from Chapter 11 better positioned to meet new market realities,” said Alpha CEO Kevin Crutchfield in a statement.

“While markets continue to be challenged in the near term, we firmly believe that coal's role as a vital fuel source for electricity generation and steel production is secure for the foreseeable future, both here and around the world,” he said.

Alpha said it hopes to exit bankruptcy by 30 June.