The first lease was made in 1964 for 24,858 acres of land held exclusively by the Navajo Tribe, designated Navajo Coal Lease No. In 19, Sentry entered into mining lease agreements with the tribes for 64,848 acres. As a result, the strata and coal deposits of Black Mesa were more extensively studied and in 19 Sentry Royalty Company, a subsidiary of Peabody Coal Company, was issued drilling and exploration permits on the Mesa to determine areas where coal could be economically recovered. The Act intended to promote economic development and better utilization of the reservations’ natural resources. The coal field received increased attention beginning in 1950 when the Navajo-Hopi Long Range Rehabilitation Act was enacted in response to dire economic conditions on the reservations. In the early 1900s, limited surveying of the coal field was made and a number of small underground mines were put into production, supplying local reservation schools and communities in the region. Since about 1300 AD, the Hopi had extracted coal from the area for pottery firing and domestic heating. The Kayenta mine was located near the northern edge of Black Mesa, a 5,400 square mile highland plateau in northeast Arizona that contains extensive coal deposits in several geologic formations.
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