Texas Slave Descendants Fight for Land in Dirgin

101-year old Ida Finley is not giving up her family's land - at least not to Luminant Mining Co.

According to a report by CBS News, Finley is one of the owners of the 9.1 acre lot in Dirgin which mining company, Luminant, has been trying to get their hands on for three years.

Luminant Mining Co. owns 75% of the lot but cannot proceed with mining operations. The halt is reportedly due to "complex inheritance arrangements" and also because some of the owners, like Finley, refuse to sell their part of the land and accept the buy-out offer.

"I don't want to sell my family's land. If I were to sell it, they would have to offer me a huge amount of money," said Kay Moore, a Fairfield, Calif., woman who says Luminant offered her $3,000 for her piece of property, which the company says is 1/20 of the remainder in a report by CBS News.

"It belongs to me, and I'm not willing to part with that," she added, recalling horseback riding trips and meals at Aunt Ida's.

The mining company has offered owners "more than the appraised value", reports say. Luminant has also tossed in full compensation to Ida Finley and her granddaughter for the homes on the said piece of land.

According to Mining, Luminant Mining Co. has started on a lawsuit against the land owners. Their claim is that the inhabitants do not "legally" own the piece of land.

The 9.1 acre piece of land was acquired by the Finleys through Ida Finley's husband and his parents who were then slaves. According to Finley, her family has owned the land ever since slavery was abolished.

Aside from tough negotiations with the Finleys and the impending lawsuit, Luminant Mining Co. is also reportedly facing bankruptcy issues. Mining reports that the company has more than $30 million worth of debt amid the entanglement with the Texas slave descendants in Dirgin. Despite bankruptcy, Luminant Mining Co. was given the go signal to expand operations in Tatum, Texas.