James River Coal Company Announces Agreement to Sell Bell County Coal for 24.4 Million

Peter T. Socha, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commented: "We believe that this transaction represents a good result for the shareholders of James River Coal, the employees and management of Bell County Coal, and the Weston Holdings organization. Weston's affiliates have existing coal mining operations near Bell County Coal and will certainly benefit from the tremendous personnel at Bell County Coal."

The sale includes substantially all of the assets of Bell County Coal. In addition, Weston Holdings has indicated the intention to immediately hire substantially all of the employees of Bell County Coal.

Bell County Coal Corporation is located in Middlesboro, Kentucky, and consists of two underground mines, a preparation plant and an integrated four-hour unit train loadout that is serviced by both CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads. Bell County Coal shipped approximately 537,000 tons in 2005 and has reserves of approximately 11.9 million tons.

Closing is subject to customary conditions, and is expected to occur by December 31, 2006, although there can be no assurance that it will be closed by such date or at all.