Coal mining

Balmain Coal Mine in New South Wales in 1950.

Photograph taken by Sam Hood for LJ Hooker, State
Library of New South Wales, 31753
Coal miners leaving an American mine at the end of a
shift (April 1974)

Surface coal mining in Wyoming in the United States.

A coal mine in Bihar, India.

A coal mine in Frameries, Belgium.

Coal mining is the process of extracting

coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its
energy content and since the 1880s, has
been widely used to generate electricity.
Steel and cement industries use coal as a
fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and
for cement production. In the United
Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine
and its structures are a colliery, a coal
mine - a pit, and the above-ground
structures - a pit head. In Australia,
"colliery" generally refers to an
underground coal mine. In the United
States, "colliery" has been used to describe
a coal mine operation but nowadays the
word is not commonly used.

Coal mining has had many developments

over the recent years, from the early days
of men tunneling, digging, and manually
extracting the coal on carts to large open
cut and long wall mines. Mining at this
scale requires the use of draglines, trucks,
conveyors, hydraulic jacks and shearers.

History

Ships have been used to haul coal since Roman times.

Small-scale mining of surface deposits

dates back thousands of years. For
example, in Roman Britain, the Romans
were exploiting most of the major
coalfields by the late 2nd century AD.[1]
The Industrial Revolution, which began in
Britain in the 18th century and later spread
to continental Europe and North America,
was based on the availability of coal to
power steam engines. International trade
expanded rapidly when coal-fed steam
engines were built for the railways and
steamships.

Until the late nineteenth-century coal was

mined underground using a pick and
shovel, and children were often employed
underground in dangerous conditions.[2]
Coal-cutting machines were introduced in
the 1880s. By 1912, surface mining was
conducted with steam shovels designed
for coal mining.

Methods of extraction
The most economical method of coal
extraction from coal seams depends on
the depth and quality of the seams, and
the geology and environmental factors.
Coal mining processes are differentiated
by whether they operate on the surface or
underground. Many coals extracted from
both surface and underground mines
require washing in a coal preparation
plant. Technical and economic feasibility
are evaluated based on the following:
regional geological conditions; overburden
characteristics; coal seam continuity,
thickness, structure, quality, and depth;
strength of materials above and below the
seam for roof and floor conditions;
topography (especially altitude and slope);
climate; land ownership as it affects the
availability of land for mining and access;
surface drainage patterns; groundwater
conditions; availability of labor and
materials; coal purchaser requirements in
terms of tonnage, quality, and destination;
and capital investment requirements.[3]

Surface mining and deep underground

mining are the two basic methods of
mining. The choice of mining method
depends primarily on depth, density,
overburden, and thickness of the coal
seam; seams relatively close to the
surface, at depths less than approximately
180 ft (55 m), are usually surface mined.

Coal that occurs at depths of 180 to 300 ft

(55 to 90 m) are usually deep mined, but in
some cases surface mining techniques
can be used. For example, some western
U.S. coal that occur at depths in excess of
200 ft (60 m) are mined by the open pit
methods, due to thickness of the seam
60–90 feet (20–25 metres). Coals
occurring below 300 ft (90 m) are usually
deep mined.[4] However, there are open pit
mining operations working on coal seams
up to 1,000–1,500 feet (300–460 metres)
below ground level, for instance Tagebau
Hambach in Germany.

Surface mining

Trucks loaded with coal at the Cerrejón coal mine in

Colombia
When coal seams are near the surface, it
may be economical to extract the coal
using open cut (also referred to as open
cast, open pit, mountaintop removal or
strip) mining methods. Opencast coal
mining recovers a greater proportion of
the coal deposit than underground
methods, as more of the coal seams in the
strata may be exploited. This equipment
can include the following: Draglines which
operate by removing the overburden,
power shovels, large trucks in which
transport overburden and coal, bucket
wheel excavators, and conveyors. In this
mining method, explosives are first used in
order to break through the surface or
overburden, of the mining area. The
overburden is then removed by draglines
or by shovel and truck. Once the coal
seam is exposed, it is drilled, fractured and
thoroughly mined in strips. The coal is
then loaded onto large trucks or conveyors
for transport to either the coal preparation
plant or directly to where it will be used.[5]

Most open cast mines in the United States

extract bituminous coal. In Canada (BC),
Australia and South Africa, open cast
mining is used for both thermal and
metallurgical coals. In New South Wales
open casting for steam coal and
anthracite is practiced. Surface mining
accounts for around 80 percent of
production in Australia, while in the US it is
used for about 67 percent of production.
Globally, about 40 percent of coal
production involves surface mining.[5]

Strip mining

Strip mining exposes coal by removing

earth above each coal seam. This earth is
referred to as overburden and is removed
in long strips. The overburden from the
first strip is deposited in an area outside
the planned mining area and referred to as
out-of-pit dumping. Overburden from
subsequent strips is deposited in the void
left from mining the coal and overburden
from the previous strip. This is referred to
as in-pit dumping.

It is often necessary to fragment the

overburden by use of explosives. This is
accomplished by drilling holes into the
overburden, filling the holes with
explosives, and detonating the explosive.
The overburden is then removed, using
large earth-moving equipment, such as
draglines, shovel and trucks, excavator and
trucks, or bucket-wheels and conveyors.
This overburden is put into the previously
mined (and now empty) strip. When all the
overburden is removed, the underlying coal
seam will be exposed (a 'block' of coal).
This block of coal may be drilled and
blasted (if hard) or otherwise loaded onto
trucks or conveyors for transport to the
coal preparation (or wash) plant. Once this
strip is empty of coal, the process is
repeated with a new strip being created
next to it. This method is most suitable for
areas with flat terrain.

Equipment to be used depends on

geological conditions. For example, to
remove overburden that is loose or
unconsolidated, a bucket wheel excavator
might be the most productive. The life of
some area mines may be more than 50
years.[6]

Contour mining

The contour mining method consists of

removing overburden from the seam in a
pattern following the contours along a
ridge or around the hillside. This method is
most commonly used in areas with rolling
to steep terrain. It was once common to
deposit the spoil on the downslope side of
the bench thus created, but this method of
spoil disposal consumed much additional
land and created severe landslide and
erosion problems. To alleviate these
problems, a variety of methods were
devised to use freshly cut overburden to
refill mined-out areas. These haul-back or
lateral movement methods generally
consist of an initial cut with the spoil
deposited downslope or at some other site
and spoil from the second cut refilling the
first. A ridge of undisturbed natural
material 15 to 20 ft (5 to 6 m) wide is often
intentionally left at the outer edge of the
mined area. This barrier adds stability to
the reclaimed slope by preventing spoil
from slumping or sliding downhill.

The limitations of contour strip mining are

both economic and technical. When the
operation reaches a predetermined
stripping ratio (tons of overburden/tons of
coal), it is not profitable to continue.
Depending on the equipment available, it
may not be technically feasible to exceed
a certain height of highwall. At this point, it
is possible to produce more coal with the
augering method in which spiral drills bore
tunnels into a highwall laterally from the
bench to extract coal without removing the
overburden.

Mountaintop removal mining

Mountaintop coal mining is a surface

mining practice involving removal of
mountaintops to expose coal seams, and
disposing of associated mining
overburden in adjacent "valley fills." Valley
fills occur in steep terrain where there are
limited disposal alternatives.

Mountaintop removal combines area and

contour strip mining methods. In areas
with rolling or steep terrain with a coal
seam occurring near the top of a ridge or
hill, the entire top is removed in a series of
parallel cuts. Overburden is deposited in
nearby valleys and hollows. This method
usually leaves the ridge and hilltops as
flattened plateaus.[4] The process is highly
controversial for the drastic changes in
topography, the practice of creating head-
of-hollow-fills, or filling in valleys with
mining debris, and for covering streams
and disrupting ecosystems.[7][8]

Spoil is placed at the head of a narrow,

steep-sided valley or hollow. In preparation
for filling this area, vegetation and soil are
removed and a rock drain constructed
down the middle of the area to be filled,
where a natural drainage course previously
existed. When the fill is completed, this
underdrain will form a continuous water
runoff system from the upper end of the
valley to the lower end of the fill. Typical
head-of-hollow fills are graded and
terraced to create permanently stable
slopes.[6]

Underground mining

Coal wash plant in Clay County, Kentucky

Most coal seams are too deep

underground for opencast mining and
require underground mining, a method that
currently accounts for about 60 percent of
world coal production.[5] In deep mining,
the room and pillar or bord and pillar
method progresses along the seam, while
pillars and timber are left standing to
support the mine roof. Once room and
pillar mines have been developed to a
stopping point (limited by geology,
ventilation, or economics), a
supplementary version of room and pillar
mining, termed second mining or retreat
mining, is commonly started. Miners
remove the coal in the pillars, thereby
recovering as much coal from the coal
seam as possible. A work area involved in
pillar extraction is called a pillar section.
Modern pillar sections use remote-
controlled equipment, including large
hydraulic mobile roof-supports, which can
prevent cave-ins until the miners and their
equipment have left a work area. The
mobile roof supports are similar to a large
dining-room table, but with hydraulic jacks
for legs. After the large pillars of coal have
been mined away, the mobile roof
support's legs shorten and it is withdrawn
to a safe area. The mine roof typically
collapses once the mobile roof supports
leave an area.
 

Remote Joy HM21 Continuous Miner used

underground

There are six principal methods of

underground mining:

Longwall mining accounts for about 50

percent of underground production. The
longwall shearer has a face of 1,000 feet
(300 m) or more. It is a sophisticated
machine with a rotating drum that
moves mechanically back and forth
across a wide coal seam. The loosened
coal falls onto an armored chain
conveyor or pan line that takes the coal
to the conveyor belt for removal from
the work area. Longwall systems have
their own hydraulic roof supports which
advance with the machine as mining
progresses. As the longwall mining
equipment moves forward, overlying
rock that is no longer supported by coal
is allowed to fall behind the operation in
a controlled manner. The supports make
possible high levels of production and
safety. Sensors detect how much coal
remains in the seam while robotic
controls enhance efficiency. Longwall
systems allow a 60-to-100 percent coal
recovery rate when surrounding geology
allows their use. Once the coal is
removed, usually 75 percent of the
section, the roof is allowed to collapse
in a safe manner.[5]
Continuous mining utilizes a Continuous
Miner Machine with a large rotating
steel drum equipped with tungsten
carbide picks that scrape coal from the
seam. Operating in a "room and pillar"
(also known as "bord and pillar") system
—where the mine is divided into a series
of 20-to-30-foot (5–10 m) "rooms" or
work areas cut into the coalbed—it can
mine as much as 14 tons of coal a
minute, more than a non-mechanised
mine of the 1920s would produce in an
entire day. Continuous miners account
for about 45 percent of underground
coal production. Conveyors transport
the removed coal from the seam.
Remote-controlled continuous miners
are used to work in a variety of difficult
seams and conditions, and robotic
versions controlled by computers are
becoming increasingly common.
Continuous mining is a misnomer, as
room and pillar coal mining is very
cyclical. In the US, one can generally cut
20 feet (6 meters) (or a bit more with
MSHA permission) (12 meters or
roughly 40 ft in South Africa before the
Continuous Miner goes out and the roof
is supported by the Roof Bolter), after
which, the face has to be serviced,
before it can be advanced again. During
servicing, the "continuous" miner moves
to another face. Some continuous
miners can bolt and rock dust the face
(two major components of servicing)
while cutting coal, while a trained crew
may be able to advance ventilation, to
truly earn the "continuous" label.
However, very few mines are able to
achieve it. Most continuous mining
machines in use in the US lack the
ability to bolt and dust. This may partly
be because incorporation of bolting
makes the machines wider, and
therefore, less maneuverable.
Room and pillar mining consists of coal
deposits that are mined by cutting a
network of rooms into the coal seam.
Pillars of coal are left behind in order to
keep up the roof. The pillars can make
up to forty percent of the total coal in
the seam, however where there was
space to leave head and floor coal there
is evidence from recent open cast
excavations that 18th-century operators
used a variety of room and pillar
techniques to remove 92 percent of the
in situ coal. However, this can be
extracted at a later stage (see retreat
mining).[5]
Blast mining or conventional mining, is
an older practice that uses explosives
such as dynamite to break up the coal
seam, after which the coal is gathered
and loaded onto shuttle cars or
conveyors for removal to a central
loading area. This process consists of a
series of operations that begins with
“cutting” the coalbed so it will break
easily when blasted with explosives.
This type of mining accounts for less
than 5 percent of total underground
production in the US today.
Shortwall mining, a method currently
accounting for less than 1 percent of
deep coal production, involves the use
of a continuous mining machine with
movable roof supports, similar to
longwall. The continuous miner shears
coal panels 150 to 200 feet (45 to 60
metres) wide and more than a half-mile
(1 km) long, having regard to factors
such as geological strata.
Retreat mining is a method in which the
pillars or coal ribs used to hold up the
mine roof are extracted; allowing the
mine roof to collapse as the mining
works back towards the entrance. This
is one of the most dangerous forms of
 mining, owing to imperfect predictability
of when the roof will collapse and
possibly crush or trap workers in the
mine.

Production

Coal production trends 1980-2012 in the top five coal-

producing countries (US EIA)

 
Coal mine in China

Coal mine in Australia

Coal is mined commercially in over 50

countries. Over 7,036 Mt/yr of hard coal
was produced in 2007, a substantial
increase over the previous 25 years.[9] In
2006, the world production of brown coal
(lignite) was slightly over 1,000 Mt, with
Germany the world's largest brown coal
producer at 194.4 Mt, and China second at
100.6 Mt.[10]

Coal production has grown fastest in Asia,

while Europe has declined. Since 2013, the
world coal production is decreasing, -6% in
2016.[11] The top coal mining nations are:

2009 estimate of total coal production

Country Production[12]

China 3,450 Mt

United States 973 Mt

India 557 Mt

Australia 409 Mt

Russia 298 Mt

Indonesia 252 Mt

South Africa 250 Mt

Poland 135 Mt

Kazakhstan 101 Mt

Colombia 75 Mt

Most coal production is used in the

country of origin, with around 16 percent
of hard coal production being exported.

Coal reserves are available in almost every

country worldwide, with recoverable
reserves in around 70 countries. At current
production levels, proven coal reserves are
estimated to last 147 years.[13] However,
production levels are by no means level,
and are in fact increasing and some
estimates are that peak coal could arrive
in many countries such as China and
America by around 2030. Coal reserves
are usually stated as either (1) "Resources"
("measured" + "indicated" + "inferred" =
"resources", and then, a smaller number,
often only 10-20% of "resources", (2) "Run
of Mine" (ROM) reserves, and finally (3)
"marketable reserves", which may be only
60% of ROM reserves. The standards for
reserves are set by stock exchanges, in
consultation with industry associations.
For example, in ASEAN countries reserves
standards follow the Australasian Joint
Ore Reserves Committee Code (JORC)
used by the Australian Securities
Exchange.

Modern mining
 

Laser profiling of a minesite by a coal miner using a

Maptek I-site laser scanner in 2014

Technological advancements have made

coal mining today more productive than it
has ever been. To keep up with technology
and to extract coal as efficiently as
possible modern mining personnel must
be highly skilled and well trained in the use
of complex, state-of-the-art instruments
and equipment. Many jobs require four-
year university degrees. Computer
knowledge has also become greatly
valued within the industry as most of the
machines and safety monitors are
computerized.

The use of sophisticated sensing

equipment to monitor air quality is
common and has replaced the use of
small animals such as canaries, often
referred to as "miner's canaries".[14]

In the United States, the increase in

technology has significantly decreased the
mining workforce. in 2015 US coal mines
had 65,971 employees, the lowest figure
since EIA began collecting data in 1978.[15]
However, a 2016 study reported that a
relatively minor investment would allow
most coal workers to retrain for the solar
energy industry.[16]

Safety
Dangers to miners

The Farmington coal mine disaster kills 78. West

Virginia, US, 1968.
Historically, coal mining has been a very
dangerous activity and the list of historical
coal mining disasters is a long one. In the
US alone, more than 100,000 coal miners
were killed in accidents in the twentieth
century,[17] 90 percent of the fatalities
occurring in the first half of the century.[18]
More than 3,200 died in 1907 alone.[19]

Open cut hazards are principally mine wall

failures and vehicle collisions;
underground mining hazards include
suffocation, gas poisoning, roof collapse,
rock burst, outbursts, and gas explosions.
Firedamp explosions can trigger the much-
more-dangerous coal dust explosions,
which can engulf an entire pit. Most of
these risks can be greatly reduced in
modern mines, and multiple fatality
incidents are now rare in some parts of the
developed world. Modern mining in the US
results in approximately 30 deaths per
year due to mine accidents.[20]

However, in lesser developed countries

and some developing countries, many
miners continue to die annually, either
through direct accidents in coal mines or
through adverse health consequences
from working under poor conditions.
China, in particular, has the highest
number of coal mining related deaths in
the world, with official statistics claiming
that 6,027 deaths occurred in 2004.[21] To
compare, 28 deaths were reported in the
US in the same year.[22] Coal production in
China is twice that in the US,[23] while the
number of coal miners is around 50 times
that of the US, making deaths in coal
mines in China 4 times as common per
worker (108 times as common per unit
output) as in the US.

Mine disasters have still occurred in recent

years in the US,[24] Examples include the
Sago Mine disaster of 2006, and the 2007
mine accident in Utah's Crandall Canyon
Mine, where nine miners were killed and
six entombed.[25] In the decade 2005-2014,
US coal mining fatalities averaged 28 per
year.[26] The most fatalities during the
2005-2014 decade were 48 in 2010, the
year of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster
in West Virginia, which killed 29 miners.[27]

Miners can be regularly monitored for reduced lung

function due to coal dust exposure using spirometry.

Chronic lung diseases, such as

pneumoconiosis (black lung) were once
common in miners, leading to reduced life
expectancy. In some mining countries
black lung is still common, with 4,000 new
cases of black lung every year in the US (4
percent of workers annually) and 10,000
new cases every year in China (0.2 percent
of workers).[28] The use of water sprays in
mining equipment reduces the risk to
miners' lungs.[29] Build-ups of a hazardous
gas are known as damps, possibly from
the German word "Dampf" which means
steam or vapor:
Black damp: a mixture of carbon dioxide
and nitrogen in a mine can cause
suffocation, and is formed as a result of
corrosion in enclosed spaces so
removing oxygen from the atmosphere.
After damp: similar to black damp, after
damp consists of carbon monoxide,
carbon dioxide and nitrogen and forms
after a mine explosion.
Fire damp: consists of mostly methane,
a highly flammable gas that explodes
between 5% and 15% - at 25% it causes
asphyxiation.
Stink damp: so named for the rotten egg
smell of the hydrogen sulfide gas, stink
 damp can explode and is also very toxic.
White damp: air containing carbon
monoxide which is toxic, even at low
concentrations

Noise is also a contributing factor to

potential adverse effects on coal miners'
health. Exposure to excessive noise can
lead to noise-induced hearing loss.
Hearing loss developed as a result of
occupational exposures is coined
occupational hearing loss. To protect
miners' hearing, the US Mine Safety and
Health Administration's (MSHA) guidelines
for noise place a Permissible Exposure
Limit (PEL) for noise at 90 dBA time-
weighted over 8 hours. A lower cutoff, 85
dBA, is set for a worker to fall into the
MSHA Action Level which dictates that
workers be placed into hearing
conservation programs.

Noise exposures vary depending on the

method of extraction. For example, a study
has found that among surface coal mine
operations, dragline equipment produced
the loudest sound at a range of 88-112
dBA.[30] Within longwall sections,
stageloaders used to transport coal from
the mining face and shearers used for
extraction represent some of the highest
noise exposures. Auxiliary fans (up to 120
dBA), continuous mining machines (up to
109 dBA), and roof bolters (up to 103 dBA)
represent some of the noisiest equipment
within continuous mining sections.[31]
Exposures to noise exceeding 90 dBA can
lead to adverse effects on workers'
hearing. The use of administrative controls
and engineering controls can be used to
reduce noise exposures.

Dangers from mining waste

In the 1966 Aberfan disaster in Wales, a

colliery spoil tip collapsed, engulfing a
school and killing 116 children and 28
adults. Other accidents involving coal
waste include the Martin County coal
slurry spill (USA, 2000) and the Obed
Mountain coal mine spill (Canada, 2013).

Safety Improvements

Play media
A video on the use of roof screens in underground coal
mines

Improvements in mining methods (e.g.

longwall mining), hazardous gas
monitoring (such as safety-lamps or more
modern electronic gas monitors), gas
drainage, electrical equipment, and
ventilation have reduced many of the risks
of rock falls, explosions, and unhealthy air
quality. Gases released during the mining
process can be recovered to generate
electricity and improve worker safety with
gas engines.[32] Another innovation in
recent years is the use of closed circuit
escape respirators, respirators that
contain oxygen for situations where mine
ventilation is compromised.[33] Statistical
analyses performed by the US Department
of Labor's Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA) show that between
1990 and 2004, the industry cut the rate of
injuries by more than half and fatalities by
two-thirds. However, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, even in 2006,
mining remained the second most
dangerous occupation in America, when
measured by fatality rate.[34] However,
these numbers include all mining, with oil
and gas mining contributing the majority
of fatalities; coal mining resulted in only 47
fatalities that year.[34]

Environmental impacts
 

Environmental activists blocking a coal mine to

promote fossil fuel phase-out

Coal mining can result in a number of

adverse effects on the environment.

Surface mining of coal completely

eliminates existing vegetation, destroys
the genetic soil profile, displaces or
destroys wildlife and habitat, degrades air
quality, alters current land uses, and to
some extent permanently changes the
general topography of the area mined.[35]
This often results in a scarred landscape
with no scenic value. Of greater concern,
the movement, storage, and redistribution
of soil during mining can disrupt the
community of soil microorganisms and
consequently nutrient cycling processes.
Rehabilitation or reclamation mitigates
some of these concerns and is required by
US Federal Law, specifically the Surface
Mining Control and Reclamation Act of
1977.

Mine dumps (tailings) could produce acid

mine drainage which can seep into
waterways and aquifers, with
consequences on ecological and human
health.

If underground mine tunnels collapse, they

cause subsidence of the ground above.
Subsidence can damage buildings, and
disrupt the flow of streams and rivers by
interfering with the natural drainage.

Coal production is a major contributor to

global warming: burning coal generates
large quantities of carbon dioxide and
mining operations can release methane, a
known greenhouse gas, into the
atmosphere. The coal mining industry is
working to improve its public image.[36]
Legality of coal mining
A court in Australia has cited climate
change in ruling against a new coal
mine.[37]

Coal mining by country

The six largest countries by coal production in 2015 as

determined by the US Energy Information Agency.

Top 10 hard and brown coal producers in

2012 were (in million metric tons): China
3,621, United States 922, India 629,
Australia 432, Indonesia 410, Russia 351,
South Africa 261, Germany 196, Poland
144, and Kazakhstan 122.[38][39]

Australia

Coal is mined in every state of Australia,

but mainly in Queensland, New South
Wales and Victoria. It is mostly used to
generate electricity, and 75% of annual
coal production is exported, mostly to
eastern Asia.

In 2007, 428 million tonnes of coal was

mined in Australia.[9] In 2007, coal
provided about 85% of Australia's
electricity production.[40] In fiscal year
2008/09, 487 million tonnes of coal was
mined, and 261 million tonnes was
exported.[41] In fiscal year 2013/14, 430.9
million tonnes of coal was mined, and
375.1 million tonnes was exported.[42] In
2013/14, coal provided about 69% of
Australia's electricity production.[43]

In 2013, Australia was the world's fifth-

largest coal producer, after China, the
United States, India, and Indonesia.
However, in terms of proportion of
production exported, Australia is the
world's second largest coal exporter, as it
exports roughly 73% of its coal production.
Indonesia exports about 87% of its coal
production.[43]

Canada

Canada was ranked as the 15th coal

producing country in the world in 2010,
with a total production of 67.9 million
tonnes. Canada's coal reserves, the 12th
largest in the world, are located largely in
the province of Alberta.[44]

The first coal mines in North America were

located in Joggins and Port Morien, Nova
Scotia, mined by French settlers beginning
in the late 1600s. The coal was used for
the British garrison at Annapolis Royal, and
in construction of the Fortress of
Louisbourg.

Chile

Compared to other South American

countries Chile has limited coal resources.
Only Argentina is similarly poor.[45] Coal is
Chile is mostly sub-bituminous with the
exception of the bituminous coals of the
Arauco Basin in central Chile.[46]

China
The People's Republic of China is by far
the largest producer of coal in the world,
producing over 2.8 billion tons of coal in
2007, or approximately 39.8 percent of all
coal produced in the world during that
year.[9] For comparison, the second largest
producer, the United States, produced
more than 1.1 billion tons in 2007. An
estimated 5 million people work in China's
coal-mining industry. As many as 20,000
miners die in accidents each year.[47] Most
Chinese mines are deep underground and
do not produce the surface disruption
typical of strip mines. Although there is
some evidence of reclamation of mined
land for use as parks, China does not
require extensive reclamation and is
creating significant acreages of
abandoned mined land, which is
unsuitable for agriculture or other human
uses, and inhospitable to indigenous
wildlife. Chinese underground mines often
experience severe surface subsidence (6–
12 meters), negatively impacting farmland
because it no longer drains well. China
uses some subsidence areas for
aquaculture ponds but has more than they
need for that purpose. Reclamation of
subsided ground is a significant problem
in China. Because most Chinese coal is for
domestic consumption, and is burned with
little or no air pollution control equipment,
it contributes greatly to visible smoke and
severe air pollution in industrial areas
using coal for fuel. China's total energy
uses 67% from coal mines.

Colombia

An open-pit coal mine in the Rhineland lignite mining

area (Germany).

Some of the world's largest coal reserves

are located in South America, and an
opencast mine at Cerrejón in Colombia is
one of the world's largest open pit mines.
Output of the mine in 2004 was 24.9
million tons (compared to total global hard
coal production of 4,600 million tons).
Cerrejón contributed about half of
Colombia's coal exports of 52 million tons
that year, with Colombia ranked sixth
among major coal exporting nations. The
company planned to expand production to
32 million tons by 2008. The company has
its own 150 km standard-gauge railroad,
connecting the mine to its coal-loading
terminal at Puerto Bolívar on the
Caribbean coast. There are two 120-car
unit trains, each carrying 12,000 tons of
coal per trip. The round-trip time for each
train, including loading and unloading, is
about 12 hours. The coal facilities at the
port are capable of loading 4,800 tons per
hour onto vessels of up to 175,000 tons of
dead weight. The mine, railroad and port
operate 24 hours per day. Cerrejón directly
employs 4,600 workers, with a further
3,800 employed by contractors. The
reserves at Cerrejón are low-sulfur, low-
ash, bituminous coal. The coal is mostly
used for electric power generation, with
some also used in steel manufacture. The
surface mineable reserves for the current
contract are 330 million tons. However,
total proven reserves to a depth of 300
metres are 3,000 million tons.

The expansion of the Cerrejón mine has

been blamed for the forced displacement
of local communities.[48][49]

Germany

Germany has a long history of coal mining,

going back to the Middle Ages. Coal
mining greatly increased during the
industrial revolution and the following
decades. The main mining areas were
around Aachen, the Ruhr and Saar area,
along with many smaller areas in other
parts of Germany. These areas grew and
were shaped by coal mining and coal
processing, and this is still visible even
after the end of the coal mining.

Coal mining reached its peak in the first

half of the 20th century. After 1950, the
coal producers started to struggle
financially. In 1975, a subsidy was
introduced (Kohlepfennig). In 2007, the
Bundestag decided to end subsidies by
2018. As a consequence, RAG AG, the
owner of the two remaining coal mines in
Germany, announced it would close all
mines by 2018, thus ending coal mining in
Germany.
India

Jharia coal mine

Coal mining in India has a long history of

commercial exploitation starting in 1774
with John Sumner and Suetonius Grant
Heatly of the East India Company in the
Raniganj Coalfield along the Western bank
of Damodar River. Demand for coal
remained low until the introduction of
steam locomotives in 1853. After this,
production rose to an annual average of 1
Mt and India produced 6.12 Mt per year by
1900 and 18 Mt per year by 1920,
following increased demand in the First
World War, but went through a slump in
the early thirties. The production reached a
level of 29 Mt by 1942 and 30 Mt by 1946.
After independence, the country embarked
upon five-year development plans. At the
beginning of the 1st Plan, annual
production went up to 33 Mt. During the
1st Plan period, the need for increasing
coal production efficiently by systematic
and scientific development of the coal
industry was being felt. Setting up the
National Coal Development Corporation
(NCDC), a Government of India
undertaking, in 1956 with the collieries
owned by the railways as its nucleus was
the first major step towards planned
development of Indian Coal Industry.
Along with the Singareni Collieries
Company Ltd. (SCCL) which was already in
operation since 1945 and which became a
government company under the control of
Government of Andhra Pradesh in 1956,
India thus had two Government coal
companies in the fifties. SCCL is now a
joint undertaking of Government of
Telangana and Government of India.
Japan

The Daikōdō (大抗道), the first adit of the Horonai mine

(1879).(also known as the Otowakõ (音羽坑))

The richest Japanese coal deposits have

been found on Hokkaidō and Kyũshũ.

Japan has a long history of coal mining

dating back into the Japanese Middle
Ages. It is said that coal was first
discovered in 1469 by a farming couple
near Ōmuta, central Kyūshū.[50] In 1478,
farmers discovered burning stones in the
north of the island, which led to the
exploitation of the Chikuhõ coalfield.[51]

Following Japanese industrialization

additional coalfields were discovered
northern Japan. One of the first mines in
Hokkaidō was the Hokutan Horonai coal
mine.[52]

Poland

Russia

Russia ranked as the fifth largest coal

producing country in 2010, with a total
production of 316.9 Mt. Russia has the
world's second largest coal reserves.[53]
Russia and Norway share the coal
resources of the Arctic archipelago of
Svalbard, under the Svalbard Treaty.

Spain

Spain was ranked as the 30th coal

producing country in the world in 2010.
The coal miners of Spain were active in
the Spanish Civil War on the Republican
side. In October 1934, in Asturias, union
miners and others suffered a fifteen-day
siege in Oviedo and Gijon. There is a
museum dedicated to coal mining in the
region of Catalonia, called Cercs Mine
Museum.

In October 2018, the Sánchez government

and Spanish Labour unions settled an
agreement to close ten Spanish coal
mines at the end of 2018. The government
pre-engaged to spend 250 million Euro to
pay for early retirements, occupational
retraining and structural change. In 2018,
about 2,3 per cent of the electric energy
produced in Spain was produced in coal-
burning power plants.[54]

South Africa
South Africa is one of the ten largest coal
producing countries[55][56] and the fourth
largest coal exporting country[57] in the
world.

Taiwan

Abandoned coal mine in Pingxi, New Taipei.

In Taiwan, coal is distributed mainly in the

northern area. All of the commercial coal
deposits occurred in three Miocene coal-
bearing formations, which are the Upper,
the Middle and the Lower Coal Measures.
The Middle Coal Measures was the most
important with its wide distribution, great
number of coal beds and extensive
potential reserves. Taiwan has coal
reserves estimated to be 100-180 Mt.
However, coal output had been small,
amounting to 6,948 metric tonnes per
month from 4 pits before it ceased
production effectively in 2000.[58] The
abandoned coal mine in Pingxi District,
New Taipei has now turned into the
Taiwan Coal Mine Museum.[59]
Ukraine

In 2012 coal production in Ukraine

amounted to 85.946 million tonnes, up
4.8% from 2011.[60] Coal consumption that
same year grew to 61.207 million tonnes,
up 6.2% compared with 2011.[60]

More than 90 percent of Ukraine's coal

production comes from the Donets
Basin.[61] The country's coal industry
employs about 500,000 people.[62]
Ukrainian coal mines are among the most
dangerous in the world, and accidents are
common.[63] Furthermore, the country is
plagued with extremely dangerous illegal
mines.[64]
United Kingdom

A view of Murton colliery near Seaham, United

Kingdom, 1843

Before the industrial revolution much of

the coal was used near to its production,
although there was an active trade along
the North Sea coast supplying coal to
Yorkshire and London.[1]

Many coalfields were developed in the

industrial revolution. The oldest were in
Newcastle and Durham, South Wales, the
Central Belt of Scotland and the Midlands,
such as those at Coalbrookdale. The
oldest continuously worked deep-mine in
the United Kingdom was Tower Colliery in
the South Wales coalfield. This colliery
was developed in 1805, and its miners
bought it out at the end of the 20th
century, to prevent it from being closed.
Tower Colliery was finally closed on 25
January 2008.[65]

The United Kingdom was ranked as the

24th coal producing country in the world in
2010, with a total production of 18.2
million tonnes. Coal mining in the United
Kingdom probably dates to Roman times;
coal production increased significantly
during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th
century and peaked during World War I. As
a result of its long history with coal
Britain's economically recoverable coal
reserves have decreased,[66] and more
than twice as much coal is now imported
than produced.[67]

United States

Miners at the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company Mine

 g p y
in 1974

Coal was mined in America in the early

18th century, and commercial mining
started around 1730 in Midlothian,
Virginia.[68]

The American share of world coal

production remained steady at about 20
percent from 1980 to 2005, at about 1
billion short tons per year. The United
States was ranked as the second highest
coal producing country in the world in
2010, and possesses the largest coal
reserves in the world. In 2008 then-
President George W. Bush stated that coal
was the most reliable source of
electricity.[69] However, in 2011 President
Barack Obama said that the US should rely
more on "clean" sources of energy that
emit lower or no carbon dioxide
pollution.[70] For a time, while domestic
coal consumption for electric power was
being displaced by natural gas, exports
were increasing.[71] US net coal exports
increased ninefold from 2006 to 2012,
peaked at 117 million short tons in 2012,
then declined to 63 million tons in 2015. In
2015, 60% of net US exports went to
Europe, 27% to Asia.US coal production
increasingly comes from strip mines in the
western United States, such as from the
Powder River Basin in Wyoming and
Montana.[72]

Coal has come under continued price

pressure from natural gas and renewable
energy sources, which has resulted in a
rapid decline of coal in the U.S. and several
notable bankruptcies including Peabody
Energy. On 13 April 2016 it reported, that
its revenue had reduced by 17 percent as
coal prices fell and that it had lost two
billion dollars the previous year.[73] It then
filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 13 April
2016.[73] The Harvard Business Review
discussed retraining coal workers for solar
photovoltaic employment because of the
rapid rise in U.S. solar jobs.[74] A 2016
study indicated that this was technically
possible and would account for only 5% of
the industrial revenue from a single year to
provide coal workers with job security in
the energy industry as whole.[16]

President Donald Trump pledged to bring

back coal jobs during the 2016 US
presidential election, and as president he
announced plans to reduce environmental
protection, particularly by repealing the
Clean Power Plan (CPP). However,
industry observers have warned that this
might not lead to a boom in mining jobs[75]
A 2019 projection by the Energy
Information Administration estimated that
coal production without CPP would
decline over coming decades at a faster
rate than indicated in the agency's 2017
projection, which had assumed the CPP
was in effect.[76]

See also
Acid mine drainage
Black lung disease
George Bretz (photographer)
Child labour
Coal Measures
Coal preparation plant
Coal slurry impoundment
Coal train
Coal-mining region
Coal#Uses today
Environmental impact of the coal
industry
Hurrying
List of books about coal mining
Mine fire
Mining accident
Peak coal
Problems in coal mining
Recovering of heat from old coal mines
World Coal Institute
 Environmental justice and coal mining in
Appalachia

Notes

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1089186288220192768

Further reading
Daniel Burns. The modern practice of coal
mining (1907)
Chirons, Nicholas P. Coal Age Handbook of
Coal Surface Mining (ISBN 0-07-011458-7)
Hamilton, Michael S. Mining Environmental
Policy: Comparing Indonesia and the USA
(Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005). (ISBN 0-
7546-4493-6).
Hayes, Geoffrey. Coal Mining (2004), 32 pp
Hughes. Herbert W, A Text-Book of Mining:
For the use of colliery managers and others
(London, many editions 1892-1917), the
standard British textbook for its era.
Kuenzer, Claudia. Coal Mining in China (In:
Schumacher-Voelker, E., and Mueller, B.,
(Eds.), 2007: BusinessFocus China, Energy: A
Comprehensive Overview of the Chinese
Energy Sector. gic Deutschland Verlag, 281
pp., ISBN 978-3-940114-00-6 pp. 62–68)
National Energy Information Center.
"Greenhouse Gases, Climate Change,
Energy" . Retrieved 16 October 2007.
Charles V. Nielsen and George F. Richardson.
1982 Keystone Coal Industry Manual (1982)
Saleem H. Ali. "Minding our Minerals, 2006."
A.K. Srivastava. Coal Mining Industry in India
(1998) (ISBN 81-7100-076-2)
Department of Trade and Industry, UK. "The
Coal Authority" . Archived from the original
on 13 October 2008. Retrieved 16 October
2007.
Tonge, James. The principles and practice of
coal mining (1906)
Woytinsky, W. S., and E. S. Woytinsky. World
Population and Production Trends and
Outlooks (1953) pp 840–881; with many
 tables and maps on the worldwide coal
industry in 1950

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