Atrum Coal NLsaid April 4 that it has settled the US$1.4 million outstanding balance, includingprincipal and accrued interest, of the promissory note payable to through a US$600,000cash payment and the issuance of a new royalty — a way Atrum Coal Executive ChairmanRobert Bell deems as cash conserving for the company.

The new royalty comprises a 0.5% freight-on-board selling priceroyalty over all production within Atrum Coal's Groundhog anthracite project tenements in British Columbiafor a 10-year period from the start of the project's commercial production and subsequentlya 0.1% royalty from production within the Groundhog North mining complex projectarea.

In January, a former Atrum Coal contractor served the miner anotice of civil claimfor contested, unpaid invoices totaling US$430,649.31 plus interest and costs.