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Coal mining regions are significant resource extraction industries in many parts of the world. They provide a large amount of the fossil fuel energy in the world economy.
The China is the largest producer of coal in the world, while Australia is the largest coal exporter. Countries with the largest proven black coal reserves are the United States (250.2 billion tonnes), Russia (160.3 billion tonnes), Australia (147.4 billion tonnes), China (138.8 billion tonnes) and India (101.3 billion tonnes).
A coal-mining region is a region in which coal mining is a significant economic activity. Coal-mining regions are often associated with the social, cultural and environmental impact of coal mining.
The top producing states are:
Other notable coal-mining areas include:
As of September 31, 2005, the in situ coal reserves of the Philippines amounts to 458 million metric tons which is about 18% of the country's total coal resource potential amounting .
Semirara Mining and Power Corporation is the largest coal producer in the country whose primary mine is in Semirara Island. The company accounts for 92% of the country's coal production according to the Department of Energy.
Germany's last operating black coal mine, Prosper-Haniel, closed on December 21, 2018, leaving only lignites mines in operation, such as the Hambach surface mine.
The Kent coalfield in Kent in South East England also had coal mining operations. In South West England, Somerset was the location of the Somerset coalfields until 1973. Yorkshire in northern England also was formerly home to major coal mining operations.
Coal is mined in the Appalachian Mountains region, and the Midwest. Most coal now produced in the United States is mined in western surface mines, especially in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. A surface mining method often used in the Appalachians is mountaintop removal mining.
The states with the largest recoverable coal reserves are, in descending order, Wyoming, West Virginia, Illinois, and Montana. US Energy Information Administration: Recoverable coal reserves and average annuay recovery percentage at producing mines by state, 2006, 2005, PDF file, downloaded 27 January 2009. The largest single mine in the United States is the North Antelope Rochelle Mine near Gillette, Wyoming; it produces more coal annually than many states. In 2009, it alone produced over 100 million tons of coal, and has plans to produce 130 million ton in 2012 more than 23 other coal producing states including Pennsylvania.
Areas with significant coal mining activities include:
Russia
Russia is currently the fifth largest producer of coal, and has the second largest reserves, estimated at 175 billion. The majority of its coal is located east of the Ural Mountains in Siberia. By 1999 approximately a third of coal mining business was privatized. Since then, the industry has concentrated in hands of few companies - coking coal producers were integrated with steel makers, and two national leaders in steam coal emerged. Russian coal miners have recently campaigned for improvements in their working conditions, leading to some reform. Mechel controls the Southern Kuzbass Coal Company in Kuznetsk, the Elga Coal Field in the Sakha Republic with 2.2 billion metric tons of reserves of coal, and the Neryungrinsky coal mine at Neryungri in the Sakha Republic. Other coal producing regions include the Pechora basin of brown coal in northern European Russia, the Kansk-Achinsk basin with total reserves 600 billion tons of lignite centered on Kansk in southern Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tunguska coal basin in eastern Siberia located between the Khatanga River to the Trans-Siberian railway and between the Yenisei River and Lena River rivers, and the Lena coal basin which is mainly in the Sakha Republic with some in Krasnoyarsk Krai.
Europe
Belgium
The sillon industriel contains the former coal-mining area, Pays Noir, or "Black Country." It runs across Wallonia, passing from Dour, in Borinage, in the west, to Verviers in the east, through Mons, La Louvière, Charleroi, Namur, Huy, and Liège, following the valleys of the rivers Haine, Sambre, Meuse and Vesdre. It is also known as the "Sambre and Meuse valley", or the "Haine-Sambre-Meuse-Vesdre valley", or the "dorsale wallonne."
Bosnia and Herzegovina
The major coal mining basins in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the Tuzla Basin with the Kreka and Đurđevik mines and the Zenica Basin with the adjacent Kakanj, Novi Travnik and Gračanica. There are also substantial reserves of coal in Sanski Most, Ugljevik, Gacko and Stanari.
France
Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, Loire coal mining basin and Saar-Warndt coal mining basin were the major coal-mining regions.
Germany
The Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Lusatia, and the Central Germany lignite mining area are some of the coal-mining regions.See German Wikipedia for a detailed listing End of 2010 there were five operating hard coal mines in Germany: 1: Bergwerk Ibbenbüren, Ibbenbüren, 2: Zeche Auguste Viktoria, Marl, 3: Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel, Bottrop, 4: Bergwerk West, Kamp Lintfort, 5: Bergwerk Saar, Saarlouis.
Netherlands
Limburg was a coal-mining region until 1973; See mining in Limburg
Poland
Silesia in Poland and Czech Republic has more working coal miners than the rest of the European Union combined.
Romania
The Jiu Valley is a coal-mining region.
Serbia
Kolubara and Kostolac are coal mining regions.
The REMBAS region near the Resava River is a coal-mining region.
Spain
There are large coal deposits in Asturias and León which helped fuel the Industrial Revolution in Spain; these have mostly been exhausted.
Ukraine
Donbas, Volyn, and Halychyna are coal-mining regions.
United Kingdom
Britain had major coal-mining activity in the past, but since the 1980s coal mining has been in decline due to the increased use of natural gas in and cheaper . Very few working coal mines and Open-pit mining now exist in Britain.
England
The West Midlands region, which covers the western part of the English Midlands. The West Midlands conurbation is the name given to the large conurbation in the region that includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton. The " Black Country" is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands which includes the north and west of Birmingham and the south and east of Wolverhampton, famous for its coal mines (especially in Staffordshire), its coal coking operations, and other heavy industry, including iron Foundry and that used local coal to fire their furnaces, all of which produced a level of air pollution that had few equals anywhere in the world.
Wales
The South Wales coalfield provided a large amount of Welsh coal.
North America
Canada
Canada holds 78 billion tonnes of coal, primarily Bituminous coal and sub-bituminous, though Saskatchewan holds significant reserves of lignite coal. The Elk Valley, located in the southeast corner of British Columbia, is host to one of the world's largest deposits of hard coking coal. Five mines are operated by the Teck mining company in this area. Coal in Canada's Energy Market
United States
Coal mining in the United States has historically had economic and cultural dominance in regions such as the Allegheny Mountains and Appalachian Mountains, where it was a major part of identity and traditions. The replacement of workers by mechanization has had major consequences for the industry and for the people it affects.
Oceania
Australia
Australia contains 76 billion tonnes of coal reserves, or approximately 8 percent of known worldwide deposits. Australian coal bed include both lignite (brown coal) and Bituminous coal. The premier producing areas for Australian coal are the Bowen Basin in the state of Queensland, the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, and the Latrobe Valley in Victoria. Black Coal Resources Australian Coal Association
See also
External links
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