The Peace River coalfield, which extends for 400 km through the northeast part of British Columbia, was first discovered in 1793. Due to lack of infrastructure, mining in the early days was limited to small operations serving local needs. The expansion of steel production in the mid-1960's, led by the Japanese steel mills, stimulated exploration for metallurgical (coking) coal on a global scale. Within ten years the majority of the land within the Peace River coalfield with coal mining potential had been acquired and explored by various mining and oil companies.