Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams. This process is considered to be safer compared to underground mining because the coal seams are accessed from above instead of underground. In the United States, this method of coal mining is conducted in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. Explosives are used to remove up to 400 vertical feet of mountain to expose underlying coal seams. Excess rock and soil is dumped into nearby valleys, in what are called "holler fills" or "valley fills".
Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which the overlying rock is left in place, and the mineral is removed through shafts or tunnels.
A spoil tip is a pile built of accumulated spoil – waste material removed during mining. Spoil tips are not formed of slag, but in some areas, such as England and Wales, they are referred to as slag heaps. In Scotland the word bing is used. In North American English the term is mine dump or mine waste dump.
The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States.
Sago is an unincorporated community in Upshur County, West Virginia, United States. It is located along the Buckhannon River and is the site of the Sago Mine, scene of the 2006 Sago Mine disaster.
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history and is the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War. The conflict occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, as part of the Coal Wars, a series of early-20th-century labor disputes in Appalachia.
Elkford is a district municipality in the southeast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia in the Rocky Mountain range. It is 32 km (20 mi) north of the junction at Sparwood, on provincial Highway 43. Outdoor recreational activities take place in Elkford throughout the year. Elkford hosts an annual festival called Wildcat Days during the last weekend of June.
Nordegg is a hamlet in west-central Alberta, Canada within Clearwater County. It is in the North Saskatchewan River valley in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, just east of the intersection of the David Thompson Highway and the Highway 734 spur of the Bighorn Highway. A former coal mining town, it was named after Martin Nordegg and the name probably means "North Corner" in a German dialect. The railway station name at the locality was called Brazeau rather than Nordegg at certain points in its history, but the local post office has always been named Nordegg. The name Brazeau is now obsolete.
Beaver Mines is a hamlet in southern Alberta, Canada within the Municipal District of Pincher Creek No. 9. It is located in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies on Highway 507, approximately 19 km (12 mi) west of Pincher Creek.
Luscar is a ghost town in west-central Alberta, Canada that was once a coal mining community. It was in the foothills of the Northern Rockies about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) northwest of Cadomin along the Bighorn Highway, at the end of the CN Railway line.
Mountain Park is a ghost town in western Alberta, south of Cadomin, elevation 6200 feet, at the end of the historic Alberta Coal Branch line of the Canadian National Railway.
Indian Mountain State Park is a state park in Campbell County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Established in 1971, the park consists of 213 acres (0.86 km2) situated at the base of Indian Mountain, a 1,949-foot (594 m) summit that overlooks the Elk Valley in the Cumberland Mountains. The park is located immediately west of the city of Jellico, and the history and development of the two are intertwined to a great extent.
Calumet is a census-designated place in Mount Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Although the United States Census Bureau included it as a census-designated place with the nearby community of Norvelt for the 2000 census, they are in reality two very different communities, each reflecting a different chapter in how the Great Depression affected rural Pennsylvanians. As of the 2010 census, Calumet-Norvelt was divided into two separate CDPs officially. Calumet was a typical "patch town," another name for a coal town, built by a single company to house coal miners as cheaply as possible. The closing of the Calumet mine during the Great Depression caused enormous hardship in an era when unemployment compensation and welfare payments were nonexistent. On the other hand, Norvelt was created during the depression by the US federal government as a model community, intended to increase the standard of living of laid-off coal miners.
Kay Moor, also known as Kaymoor, is the site of an abandoned coal mine, coal-processing plant, and coal town near Fayetteville, West Virginia. The town site is located in the New River Gorge at Kaymoor Bottom (38°03′00″N81°03′17″W). It is linked to the mine portal 560 feet (170 m) above on Sewell Bench (38°02′52″N81°03′58″W) in the wall of the Gorge by conveyors.
Mining in the United States has been active since the beginning of colonial times, but became a major industry in the 19th century with a number of new mineral discoveries causing a series of mining rushes. In 2015, the value of coal, metals, and industrial minerals mined in the United States was US$109.6 billion. 158,000 workers were directly employed by the mining industry.
Goonyella Riverside Mine is a large open cut coking coal mine in the Bowen Basin. It is one of many coal mines in Central Queensland, Australia and is located at Moranbah about 30 km north of the township. The mine produced 12.4 million tonnes of metallurgical coal from July 2012 to June 2013. It is owned by BHP Mitsubishi Alliance. The Goonyella Upper Seam, the Goonyella Middle Seam and the Goonyella Lower Seam are all mined at the site. The coal is well known for its great coking characteristics. Much of the coal was such a high grade, the wash plants were often programmed to add ash to meet the contracted export quality targets.
McAdams is an unincorporated community in Robinson Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States. McAdams is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Route 980 and North Branch Road, 2.2 miles (3.5 km) west-northwest of McDonald. The community is a coal town which was the site of the Pittsburgh Coal Company's Montour No. 9 mine, which closed in 1954. The Montour Trail passes through the community, as did a branch of the Montour Railroad during the mine's operation.
Grapevine is an unincorporated community located in Hopkins County, Kentucky, United States.
The Taiwan Coal Mine Museum is a museum about coal mining in Pingxi District, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
McCauley Mountain is a mountain in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Its official elevation is 1,571 feet (479 m) above sea level. The mountain is a synclinal mountain. Main rock formations on and near it include the Mauch Chunk Formation and the Pottsville Formation. There are also coal deposits on it. The coal deposits were discovered in 1826 and mining of them began in the 1850s. However, coal mining on the east side of the mountain proved to be a commercial failure. There are a number of ponds on the mountain, some of which were created during the mining. However, others are natural vernal pools. Some of the ponds are surrounded by hemlocks and deciduous trees. Major streams near the mountain include Scotch Run, Beaver Run, and Catawissa Creek. The mountain is named after Alexander McCauley, who settled there in 1774.
