Peabody owns four mines in the Southwest: two in Arizona and two in New Mexico. The Kayenta Mine in Arizona and the Lee Ranch Mine in New Mexico are both in operation; The Black Mesa Mine in Arizona suspended operations in 2005, and the El Segundo Mine in New Mexico will begin production in 2008.

 

 

Peabody Energy's Kayenta Mine is located on reservation lands on a highland plateau called Black Mesa in Northeast Arizona. The mine operates through lease agreements with the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe and supplies approximately 8 million tons of low-sulfur thermal coal annually to Navajo Generating Station near Page, Ariz. under a long-term contract.

 

Mining at Kayenta occurs under complex geological conditions, with coal extracted from multiple seams and splits of seams ranging in thickness from three to 15 feet. Coal is transported approximately 80 miles to an electrical generating station that generates more than 2,250 megawatts of affordable and reliable electricity for businesses and households across the Southwest.

 

Peabody's Arizona operations have injected an estimated $3 billion in economic benefits for tribal communities. For example, native people comprise more than 90 percent of Kayenta Mine's more than 425-person workforce. Operations at the adjacent Black Mesa Mine have been suspended, and Peabody is currently pursuing coal-related opportunities with both tribes.

 

Peabody's Arizona operations have earned numerous awards for industry-leading efforts to reclaim mined lands in a manner that also preserves cultural ways. On Black Mesa, leading-edge technology is used to return land to a condition that typically is 20 times more productive than native range, and more than 15,000 acres have been restored for grazing, wildlife habitat and cultural plant cultivation. The company's efforts have earned national recognition, including the "Silver" Good Neighbor and National Reclamation Excellence honors from the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2005 and the "Gold" Good Neighbor Award and Director's Award in 2003. Peabody also received international recognition by placing in the top 2 percent among more than 700 entries in the 2006 Energy Globe Awards for creating a global model for sustainability on Arizona's Black Mesa.

 

 

 

Located about 35 miles northwest of Grants, N.M., Lee Ranch Mine was opened in 1984 by Santa Fe Pacific Minerals. Lee Ranch Mine shipped 3.4 million tons in 2008 to power plants in New Mexico and Arizona.

 

In 2006, Lee Ranch was honored by the U.S. Department of Labor for operating the safest surface mine in America. Last year, the mine was also honored with the Outstanding Safe Operator of the Year Award by the New Mexico Mining Association. Since its first year of operation in 1985, Lee Ranch has been honored more than 12 times as New Mexico's safest coal mine with a workforce of fewer than 250. Sponsored by the New Mexico State Mine Inspector and New Mexico Mining Association, the Outstanding Safe Operator Award was created specifically for Lee Ranch to recognize the mine's unparalleled safety performance. Lee Ranch Mine also received the 1994 Excellence in Surface Mining Reclamation Award from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining.

 

In 2008, Peabody opened El Segundo (The Second), an operation adjacent to the Lee Ranch Mine. The surface operation is ramping up to produce 6 million tons of medium sulfur coal annually to serve a 19-year contract.

 

El Segundo marks a new chapter in the long history of mining on this high desert plain and will help meet rapidly expanding electricity needs in the Southwest.