Massey Energy Co. has bought additional coal reserves from the bankrupt Appalachian Fuels LLC and its affiliates. The metallurgical and steam coal reserves, bought for about $6 million, consist of about 15 million tons of highvolatile coal located in Barbour County, W.Va. Richmond-based Massey also acquired permits which will eventually be necessary for production on the property.

Hundreds of miners who lost jobs after Massey Energy bought a West Virginia mine have settled an age discrimination lawsuit against the Richmond, Va.-based coal producer.

A Massey Energy spokesman says the company isn’t interested in donating money toward building a new Raleigh County school to defuse a controversy over the present school’s location near a coal storage silo.

Court records show Massey Energy paid more than $5.1 million for the 23 million tons of coal reserves and other assets acquired from a bankrupt rival.

In a case that led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on judicial ethics, Massey Energy Co. asked West Virginia’s top court to stick with earlier conclusions absolving it of a multimillion-dollar judgment. For the third time in nearly two years, state justices heard the Richmond-based coal producer appeal a verdict won in 2002 by competitor Harman Mining Co. and its president, Hugh Caperton. The verdict is now worth $85 million.

Richmond-based coal producer Massey Energy has dropped its lawsuit challenging the West Virginia Supreme Court’s recusal procedures.

Donald Blankenship, the chairman of Richmond-based Massey Energy, probably did not intend to produce a Supreme Court case when he shelled out $3 million to help elect a judge. But that was the result. After Brent Benjamin was elected to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals with Blankenship’s help, he twice joined a 3-2 majority in overturning a $50 million judgment against Massey. A jury had awarded the money to the owner of a competing company who alleged Massey had used fradulent business practices to drive the company into oblivion. The company, Harman Mining, had asked Benjamin to recuse himself. He refused.

Judges must disqualify themselves in some cases involving their top campaign contributors, the U.S. Supreme Court said, ruling for the first time that judicial elections can create a risk of bias that violates the Constitution. The justices, voting 5-4, said Justice Brent Benjamin of the West Virginia Supreme Court should not have taken part in two 3-2 decisions that blocked a $50 million jury verdict against units of Massey Energy Co. The company’s chairman, Donald Blankenship, had spent $3 million to get Benjamin elected.

A $67 million flyover project designed to improve traffic flow in the Short Pump area of Henrico County is finished. The Virginia Department of Transportation said yesterday that the three-year project was completed at about $1.1 million under budget. It includes a two-lane flyover ramp to carry drivers from Interstate 64 to Interstate 295, an additional travel lane along I-64 east of Route 288 to I-295, and an additional travel lane along I-64 west from I-295 to Route 288.

Coal producer Massey Energy Co. said it has cut the base salaries of its chief executive and four other top officials 10 percent. Richmond-based Massey disclosed the pay cuts for CEO Don Blankenship and others in a regulatory filing. Other compensation such as stock awards are not being reduced, nor are payments they would receive if the company were sold, according to the filing.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)—A federal judge has fined a Massey Energy subsidiary $2.5 million after accepting the company’s guilty plea on 10 criminal charges in a fire that killed two West Virginia miners

Increased sales and higher prices helped Massey Energy Co. boost its net 2008 fourth-quarter net income to $53.6 million, more than 10 times its earnings in the final quarter of 2007. The Richmond-based coal company reported yesterday that its net income was 63 cents per share for the fourth quarter of 2008. In 2007, net income totaled $5.1 million, or $0.06 per diluted share.